


Recovering Shadows

by WigglyTeeth



Category: Eddie Brock - Fandom, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Venom (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:00:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WigglyTeeth/pseuds/WigglyTeeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deanna Bryant upon just moving into her new apartment, has a brief run in with a monstrous being named Venom. She tries to get the memory to leave her mind, but finds that the creature keeps popping up. Soon it occurs that she may be closer to this beast than she thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Settling in

**Author's Note:**

> This will mix different versions of Eddie and Venom from the comics and movie/shows as one character, they may act differently than you would think. Same goes for Spider-Man when he appears.

A heavy sigh broke the silence of a box filled apartment.  Deanna leaned against her windowsill that overlooked a busy street, seeing the clutter that made up the city reminded her of fond childhood memories that made a grin tug at her lips. The warm haze of the late evening sun setting created a blissful atmosphere for her.  Though the work of moving was taxing, and the knowledge that she had to wake up at five in the morning for her internship was enough to make her want to pass out.  The flight delay didn’t help her grogginess either, her schedule had become overly cramped from it and it just reassured her distaste of airlines.  Her eyes traveled around the stuffy apartment, over the shabby couch and hastily bought air mattress, to a scuffed up fridge.

 She realized she ought to eat something, but she knew that the only things in her fridge were a few sandwiches, milk, and multiple peach products.  This included a large number of jars of her father’s fair winning peach jam.  Not to mention her peach memorabilia that was scattered everywhere, a peach cookie jar sat on her stove, looking just peachy as her peach shaped clock overlooked it.   Ever since she planted a peach tree back in Georgia, her parents decided they must get her everything peach related.  Which was nice at the time of being fourteen, but now that she was in her twenties, it just seemed silly.  She couldn’t stand the idea of getting rid of them though, her parents were only trying to help make her move to the city less stressful, it was their way of staying with her and she was more than willing to amuse them.

Her body swayed as she decided instead to saunter over to the couch to lie down, not yet wanting to waste the rest of the day by sleeping, just a little rest to help get her mind together.  New York reminded her so much of San Francisco, or maybe she just thought it did.  She hadn’t been in San Francisco since she was a child and the cities were still vastly different.  She knew nothing about the area that she now lived in, other than that it was close to her job and also very close to, as the movers called it “a shitty hole to be in.”  Her fingers ran through her short dark hair, she didn’t mind the risk, the joy that came with the opportunity of making a new life here far outweighed any fears she had.  There was also a firm belief in her that she could take care of any problem that arose; she wasn’t raised to be stepped on.  A yawn escaped her and she could feel her body relaxing into the old couch, with a jolt she sat up, shaking off her feeling of weariness and groaning.    She mumbled something about unpacking and got back to work at making her kingdom of boxes look more like an apartment. 

The next morning was a daze; she wasn’t used to being on such a tight schedule and not knowing the area meant she had to get up extra earlier to avoid wasting time if she became lost.  Hours passed of mostly talking and getting to know her employers.  Excitement ran through her at the opportunity to become an actual engineer, no longer having to tinker and fix farm equipment for money, but she was having a hard time paying full attention in her state of mind.  She realized that within the next month she would need to acquire another job in order to maintain her rent.  Not knowing anyone in the area didn’t help at all, there was no grapevine to work from, and all knowledge had to be dug for.    

Clouds crowded the skies as she made her way out of the large building and towards her home, threatening to pour rain down.  It wasn’t very late in the day, but the sky was quickly darkened and a chill hit her from the upcoming rain.  She adjusted the collar to her turtleneck sweater, pulling it up to her chin for warmth.  The thought to check the weather earlier didn’t cross her mind in the slightest; she was in too much of a hurry.  She judged that it was over a thirty minute walk to her work if she didn’t stop somewhere.  A groan echoed in her throat as the first droplets of water hit her dark skin.  She paused and started to judge the area she was in, trying to think of shortcuts back to her apartment. Her eyes strained as she looked around, some people hurried by to cabs or across the street, others just passed her by as wind clawed at her.  Deanna looked down the alley next to her, judging that it probably led to the road she needed to go. The area seemed oddly sketchy, but as the rain started to pour down and drench her clothes, her mind made a quick decision and she started to make her way quickly into the alley.  It winded around multiple buildings, creating an intricate path, but she was sure she knew where she was going.

Thunder started to boom in the distance and she kept her head down to avoid getting water in her eyes.  Shudders ran down her spine from the cold and one wrong step on a piece of trash forced her to slip to the ground, landing on her rear.  She paused with a frown before getting up and brushing off the dirt.  Suddenly the sound of running could be heard, or maybe she was just now noticing it.  The sound of a skirmish happening was loud in her ears.  She cautiously approached an intersection of the alley, where the corners of four buildings met.  Another boom of thunder and a man suddenly pushed her, grabbing her arm and shoving her passed him as he fled.    She stumbled forward, the shock put her in a tizzy, her eyes went to follow the man that was far behind her now, but she ended up falling into a wall. 

Deanna winced, clenching her teeth and then realizing that there was no way there could have been a wall there.  Her eyes grew wide and darted to the front to see what she had fallen towards.  A dark gigantic figure grabbed her arms and pulled her up to greet its gnarled toothy face in a sharp movement.  She lost her breath for a moment as she met the thing’s white ‘eyes.’  Its head was large and along with its teeth, it held a sharp grotesque tongue. It gurgled out a growl that started to turn into a frightening roar, and then it stopped.  Its strange eyes stared into hers.  The monstrous thing looked into her frightened eyes. Something about her eyes and face seemed to click in the shadowy beast’s mind. The meaty creature had its large clawed hands tightly wrapped around her arms, causing her to gasp in discomfort.  She was too shocked to make proper words, still trying to understand what was happening.  The creature’s face twitched and the sickening smile it had a minute ago curled down into a confused frown.  She yelled and her voice cracked “LET GO” Soon its grip loosened and Deanna instinctively started to wiggle out of its hands, about to kick it before the monster just simply stopped holding onto her, letting her hop back to the ground.  It made a gurgling noise, it seemed almost pained, the word “sorry” whispered out between its teeth with a harsh tone.  For something so large and menacing, it seemed to shrink slightly, as if it were embarrassed.  She stumbled back and gripped for the nearest wall, her legs twitched and adrenaline started to pump, telling her to run.  The creature started to back away, and Deanna paused to stare at it, “what’s it doing?”  She thought to herself as it made an eerie and deep whining noise at her.  Now she didn’t know if running was a good idea, would it set the thing off and have it spring towards her?  She didn’t understand the situation and she slowly took a step back.

Gun shots rung in her ear with sudden sharpness, causing her to trip and barely regain her balance.  She kneeled down and held her ears, the ringing in her head stopped when she looked up and realized the gigantic monster of a man was now over her.  Its position was shocking at first as it crouched over her kneeling body.  Then she realized it was being protective, it growled as pieces of flying lead hit its back, seeming to do no damage to the beast.  It roared loud enough to vibrate her insides and then it turned around and leapt at the shooter with ease.  This was enough for Deanna, without another minute, she sprinted up and ran.  She was done dealing with this horror show.  Her questions were put on hold as she flew down the alley and out of it, trying to get to her apartment as quickly as possible. 

The sounds of what was happening behind her slowly faded away and in what seemed like a split second, she reached her apartment complex’s door.  She paused to open it, breathing heavily as she slinked inside the door and made her way upstairs at a much slower pace.  The whole run home seemed to have almost never happened; her mind was in overdrive, giving her little to no time to properly digest anything going on around her.    

Her hands shook when she searched for her keys to open the door, she felt clumsy and angry with how she handled the situation.  Running could have ended badly, but there was no way she could have taken on that _thing_ without a weapon, and looking back, she almost felt thankful for it.  It seemed to have been protecting her, but she wasn’t sure, the mind can play tricks on people.  Her whole body shook and she lazily walked over to her bed and flopped down on it.  Her breathing calmed and she started to thank the heavens that she made her way home without getting shot.  She truly realized how little she knew about the area, the only thing she heard of was of a person named ‘Spiderman’ that seemed to be a superhero of sorts in New York, but that was no hero she saw.  Deanna clutched at a pillow and gurgled out the word “fuck” into it.  The whole event was getting to her, but she refused to have it cause a meltdown.  She made muffled yell into the pillow and let it go, she just had to deal with it and move on.  

The thought of calling the cops finally crossed her mind, but before she even looked at her phone, she heard sirens nearing the area.  Someone else must have already called in the gunshots.   Her mind started to waver as her pillow seemed to feel softer.  She sighed and nuzzled her face into it as sleep started to fill her head.  Images of the monstrous being with wicked teeth and a lashing tongue pervaded her dreams the rest of the night. 


	2. Pitiful Creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something seems to just not want to leave Deanna alone.

After a few days of lamely wandering from home to work and back, Deanna found that simply making a run to a local coffee shop brightened her mornings and evenings.  The shock of the tussle had since faded and she decided to not mention it to her parents when they called the day after the event, having her mother and father worry about her broke her heart and she couldn’t bear to make it worse for them.  Or for them to send more peach shaped cutlery.   She simply lied and told them everything went great, that there were no problems after the plane landed and that she loved the area she was living in.  Large white lies, but they kept her mother from sobbing about her baby growing up, so she didn’t mind. 

She sipped at her latte and smiled when she could taste a tiny bit of caramel touch her tongue, little things easily made her smile, growing up pinching pennies tends to help with that. Sitting next to the window she could see busy people hurry by, it was an enjoyable site, and it reminded her that for this moment she could rest.   At some point she thought she saw an old friend in one of the passing crowds, but realized it was a silly thought, the city was too large to meet old friends at random, especially when she had so few.  She did miss him though and wondered how he was.  Shaking away the nostalgia, her mind swapped to ponder over the creeping feeling she of someone watching over her walks from place to place.  Sometimes she even thought she could see large white glowing eyes peering at her from alleyways, but they always vanished before she had a chance to take a good look.   Her excuse was that it was some kind of post traumatic stress, just her being jumpy and her imagination getting to her. 

The sky was developing a red tone through the city mist as the sun started to set, making Deanna realize that it would be dark by the time she reached home.  Deanna took a last sip of her coffee and pulled the strap of her bag over her shoulder; she waved at her server, and then made her leave.  After the little incident a week earlier, she had learned to take it easy and not run into alleys for shortcuts. In fact, she started to avoid them the best she could.  She tried to keep up a quick pace and every once and awhile started to play with her sleeves to give her hands something to do.  The chill in the air was something she needed to get used to again, she felt such a strange culture shock being in the city, but she couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy the prospect of something so new.

Quickly the sky became a murky abyss as Deanna neared her apartment; blinking streetlights lit her path as she gazed at the three story building coming into sight.  It tended to look better at night, when you couldn’t see all the broken window frames and shoddy painted patchwork.  She paused at a sound coming from the side of the complex, near where garbage was thrown out.  She blinked a few times at the sound, thinking it was someone throwing something away, until it got louder.  It sounded like someone banging against metal as hard as they could.  At this rate it would wake her neighbors, or the entire street and she wasn’t about to deal with this if it kept going on.  Instead of fear, she started to get angry and ready to yell at whoever was making that horrid noise.  A walk around the corner of the complex ceased any yelling she would have created at the time. 

There, low to the ground was that horrible creature she had met earlier that week.  She could see it fully now, but it was crouching.  Its back and shoulder muscles were the most easily seen from Deanna’s perspective along with its head, sinews covered each tightly crafted form.  Light dripped off the beast like water, giving it a shine resembling murky oil.   She could now notice the white design the seemed almost like a tattoo over it’s nearly pitch black form.  Appearing to be a strange spider stretched and elongated over its chest and back.  This truly confused Deanna as she thought about the pictures of Spiderman her mother brought up, but this wasn’t him, there was no way it could be.   

Her legs tensed, she felt a need to move quickly, but the figure was relaxed in its crouched position. It didn’t show a sign that it was going to attack her.  When it moved to lean on its hand, Deanna jumped and took a step back. This caused the creature to shudder and move back a step as well, quickly reassuming its position.  Deanna’s eyes glanced around to try to figure out where the banging noise came from, not fully taking her gaze of the creature.  Noticeable dents had been made in the large garbage can a few feet away and she guessed it was caused by this _thing._

Without fully thinking her voice rose powerfully as she her eyes glared at the being “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT.  Have you been following me?!”  Her voice almost hissed and the dark creature moved back another foot, seemingly trying to show that it didn’t have malicious intent. It shifted and rose up to stand with a slight slouch, Deanna then realized that it was at least a foot taller than her, maybe even two feet taller.  No normal man could be so gigantic and so exaggeratedly muscled.   She kept her stern look even when her heart started to beat hard enough to shake her body, spitting out words “Can you speak?”  The thing nodded slowly and its voice had an echoing tone of something demented and demonic “We are Venom.” Its jagged teeth flashed and Deanna felt a pit twist in her stomach, but for some reason her fear seemed to subside.  She tilted her head at it, curious but still cautious, she also had noticed that it was making quite an effort to not intimidate her.  Or at least was trying.    

She repeated louder “What do you want?”  The creature shook at the words and seemed to fidget.  She noticed that the flesh of ‘Venom’ seemed to move on its own at times, specifically as it fidgeted in place, small bumps of moving tissue formed as if it’s body were made of a oily gel, this was even more accentuated by the dim light that bounced off it’s form.   Her eyes narrowed as it stayed silent and a growling whisper came from its throat “Friend.” 

There was a pause between the two, an aura of uneasiness came filtering in, but not a feeling of fright.  An exhale of air came from her mouth as she said “Ok” and clapped her hands together “I’m going to leave now.  Please just leave me alone, Venom. I don’t want to be a part of what happened last time.  I wasn’t trying to get between you and those other people.  I won’t cause problems for you.”  She started to take steps backwards away from it and then it made the strangest whimpering noise she had ever heard, like a neutered growl of a powerful unearthly beast.  It moved back to a crouching position and Deanna made a shooing motion at it like you would a dog.  Looking at it making that awful noise and crouching  so low made her almost pity the thing, but she remembered the horrible roar it made at her and the strength it showed, then kept walking with a faster step.   

She escaped back to her apartment and made her way up to the second floor towards her room, glancing down every so often to make sure that ‘Venom’ person wasn’t following her.  A quick look that revealed nothing but air at her heals caused a relieved feeling to wash over her.  Once in her room she made her way over to her window, looked out into the street and then closing the blinds when she pleasantly saw that there was no looming figure waiting on the sidewalk for her.

It amazed her that she felt far less disturbed and agitated when meeting this fiend again.  Maybe it was because it spoke, or maybe it was how docile it acted towards her that caused her panic to quickly melt.  She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt calm about this creature following her; something about it just didn’t make her as uneasy as she should feel.  This didn’t at all change the fact that she was going to stay away from it; she still didn’t trust the thing, even if it did create some sort of feeling of comfort.  She didn’t know what it was or why it was really lurking around.  This also brought up the question as to why it was fighting those men when she met it the first time.  All questions led to distrust, but for some reason, she wasn’t losing sleep over it. 

After changing into loose fitting nightwear and scarfing down a sandwich and a glass of milk, she felt eerily calm with the situation.  She felt secure in her apartment and not at all threatened.  Even if it was false security, she clung to it; she hated being afraid more than anything.  She liked to take things head on and be done with them.  Fear ruins people as far as she was concerned. 

She leaned on her speckled countertop, taking a last sip of milk as she felt something tickle her arm.  A tiny spider, no bigger than half an inch, had crawled up onto her arm near her hand.  It’s yellowish color and large fangs indicated it to be a Yellow Sac Spider.  She smiled at the small invertebrate as it paused on her arm, plausibly confused by her body heat or where it was going.  It rubbed its front legs together and started to clean it’s self.  “Pretty girl.”  Deanna cooed at it, she had a strange affection for spiders of all kinds and she enjoyed looking up different species to learn about.  Her parents never minded it and always called her up to take any spiders out that wandered inside the house.  However neighbors and children tended to think it was extremely odd to enjoy handling creepy crawlies.   

The Yellow Sac Spider was very common in New York, venomous but not at all deadly, its bites tended to be confused for Brown Recluse bites.  It looked up at her and began to crawl; Deanna created platforms with her hands for the little being to crawl upon as she moved to her window.  She quickly opened the window with one hand as the curious little arachnid paused and twitched it’s mandibles in the air.  “Come on little baby, go somewhere safer.”  Deanna gently pushed the miniscule creature off her hand; it hesitated at first before it hoped off onto her windowsill and made its way outside.  A few moments passed of her watching the creature as she closed her window again and locked it with a pleased smile.

Soon she vacated back to her bed with a book, taking in a few chapters of required reading for her job that outlined the mechanics of the machines she would be working on for her internship.  It was entertaining to her, but eventually sleep overcame her as her eyes fluttered and she rubbed at them.  Reading caused her to lose track of time and it was already getting late, she could feel the blood vessels in her eyes popping as she set the book down.  She yawned and desperately hoped that her meeting with Venom wouldn’t come back to bite her.  She didn’t want to be a statistic when she was just starting off her new life, a life that could mean something so good for her and her family.  Her eyes lazily glanced at the open space on one of her cabinets and she wondered if it would be a good investment to get a TV.

Within a few minutes her eyes closed and she drifted off, soon a dream of an old friend started up.  She was unsure as to what caused her random spouts of nostalgia, but she did enjoy the mix of memories and fantasies.  She really did miss him.


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deanna runs into an old friend.

The alarm rang loudly and echoed in Deanna’s skull as a dream quickly faded and was replaced by a headache.  It was hard getting used to living somewhere so new and getting up so early, her brainpan wasn’t used to all the excitement.  Waking up with headaches was becoming the norm.  A gurgling groan came from within her chest as Deanna quickly shut off the buzzing alarm and sat up to start her day.  She rubbed her forehead and fluffed up the front of her hair as her eyes looked around the dark room. 

With a stretch and a yawn she started her day, turning on the lights as she went around the apartment.  Her wardrobe of the day consisted of a sweater, jeans and a dense jacket.  Her frame was thick and heavily curved, her parent’s had a tendency to use larger than normal portions when cooking, but that helped fuel all the heavy lifting Deanna and her family had to do on a daily basis.  Keeping up the family’s farm wasn’t easy work, but it kept things afloat.  A side effect of this routine being she could easily bench press 180, which helped with work and keeping her younger cousins in line.    

Deanna gazed at the mirror in her bathroom, trying to force herself to wake up by gingerly patting her face.  Her eyes are a rich brown color, just light enough to be differentiated from her pupils.  She added small touches of makeup around her eyes to try to appear more awake than she actually was before finding her shoulder bag and walking out.  The door closed quietly and Deanna made her way down the creaking stairway.  She paused for a moment, remembering the night before and thinking that Venom could still be lurking around.  Her fingers touched the knife in her jean pocket and then moved back to her bag strap as she opened the door.

Only after a few steps and turning down the first corner, Deanna bumped into someone.  A small urked noise murmured out of her while the person apologized quickly.  A small gasp came from the man in front of her that she whispered ‘sorry’ to. Deanna glanced up and her heart struck a sharp cord as a bulky blonde man stood in front of her and smiled “Deanna” A smile crept onto Deanna’s face quickly as she looked over the man “E-Eddie!  It’s so good to see you.”  There was a hesitation between them and then Eddie’s hands twitched as his arms made a quick movement to hug her, Deanna made no arguments and wrapped her arms around her old friend.  She pulled away and chuckled “Jesus, Brock, you got big.”  His smile became a wide smirk, “Yeah, really got into working out. It’s good stress relief.”  He rubbed the back of his neck and turned in the direction she was walking, “Are you going this way?  I’m just taking a walk, so I’m in no hurry.”  Deanna nodded “I have a job to go to, but we could stop and get some coffee, I’ve got some extra time we can use to catch up.”  Brock nodded quickly as he moved to her side “Sure sounds great.”  Both of their voices had a light jubilant tone, little chuckles kept coming up in words. 

Brock was keeping his façade well intact, keeping up the belief that this was a random circumstance of them meeting after so long.  Together their steps were slow and odd, Brock was nearly a foot taller than Deanna, or it seemed like that to her when having to look up at the 6’5 man.

“So Eddie, how have you been?  Are you still working as a journalist?” 

Eddie hesitated for a moment “It’s, uh, been good.  Still workin as usual. I’m thinkin they’re gunna promote me soon too.” 

Deanna could hear his normal strains Eddie had when lying, it hadn’t changed from when they were kids, but she figured he had his reasons and ignored it, “That’s really good, wow it’s been so long.  I’m really just amazed” She refrained from telling him how much she missed seeing him, unsure if things had changed.

“Yeah, you moved away when we were thirteen right?  Damn, can’t say I didn’t miss you.  Things got hard after you left.”  His blue eyes twitched “But how you been?  You said about a job?  Long way from uh…it was Georgia right?  You moved to Georgia.”

Deanna nodded “Yeah over ten years I’ve been out of a city, I’m not used to it anymore. Other than the culture shock, I’m doing well.  The job I have is an internship for engineering. I got some money together and made my way here, I’m not living on much though.” 

“So how’d you find out about the internship anyway?” 

“Family friend mentioned it after I fixed some of their farm equipment.  There was an opportunity and so I took it.” 

“That’s great though, you always said ya wanted to make stuff and help uh…”  Eddie put an arm over her shoulder “Hey, do you still have that fascination with spiders?  Remember how you used to scare the other kids with ‘em?” 

The memory was stale but easily remembered, though Deanna didn’t like it.  Using the spiders like that made her feel terrible in retrospect “Yep, I still like them lots.  I have a pet tarantula back home named Lucy, couldn’t bring her on the plane though.  So make any headlines lately?” 

Eddie paused and glared at the sidewalk, pulling his arm away from Deanna, “Nah, nothing really interesting to tell.  News has been pretty dull lately.” He was lying; she could see it in him so easily.  The way he shrugged his shoulders and his eyes flicked when he spoke, Deanna could tell since he was a child, his lies were so obvious to her.  People tended to fall for it, and even though Deanna had always been close to Eddie, she always knew he was a compulsive liar.  Eddie’s voice changed, becoming distorted just enough to be noticeable as he continued “Fuckin Spiderman gets into every damn thing.” The sudden change made Deanna stare at him with concern, then he twitched and the mood was gone with his newly formed smile “But I’ll figure out something.”

Through a silent agreement they both moved on, not wanting to ruin the moment of meeting again.  Even if for Eddie it really hadn’t been that long.  Their chit-chat consisted mostly of how amazed the meeting was and trying to catch up with each other, sprinklings of talking about the world was strewn in it, but neither of them were very up to date.  Unfortunately Eddies lying ticks were prevalent the entire time which started to greatly worry Deanna.  She remembered what he was like when she first met him, and eight year old kid lying his way out of problems and playing hero.  By the time she had left, he was better; five years of being friends with each other helped him grow out of his compulsive habits.  Now she was worried he’d reverted back completely as he boasted about things she knew didn’t happen.  Though it made her smile and forced a blush out of her when he spoke about how he was truly happy to see her again and enjoying the moment of the whole thing.  Unfortunately the pompous banter would start up again quickly.

Once they reached the coffee shop and sat down, Deanna pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh while stopping Eddie’s little ego fluffing “Eddie. Stop.  You’re doing that thing again, were you stretch and twist everything.  You know I can tell.  Just tell me how you’re actually doing and stop sweetening the truth like you did when you were a twerp.” 

Eddie took a long sip of his coffee and then looked at it, playing with the cup in his large hands, scratching at the styrofoam with his thumb nail.  There was a pause along with a nervous shift as he spoke without a coat of complete lies “Anna, things have been really… tense lately to say the least.  I really don’t want to get into it at all.”  His eyes twitched and flicked around “Things got really bad.  I’m trying to make it better.” 

Deanna’s shoulders slumped and her heart started to sink for him, her mind swims with things that could have happened with him while she was away.  “Well alright then.  Things are getting better though right?” 

Brock’s face lit up as his eyes locked on hers “Yes, I think so.”  Something felt painfully familiar about the stare, making Deanna’s heart skip a beat and spawning a clumsy looking grin on her face “That’s good.”  They both sipped at their coffee and Deanna offered Eddie some of hers, he stared at it “what is it?”

“A mocha latte with a bit of caramel in it.  It’s good, believe me. Well, it’s better when it’s cooled down.”  Eddie took a tiny sip of it while taking note of the drink in his mind.  Another smile “You’re right, that’s some good shit. This place makes some nice stuff.” He handed the cup back, all he had was plain black coffee, Eddie didn’t have a whole lot of money on hand.  There was never a point where he really needed it, Venom usually could get him anything they wanted, but right now he wanted to play house.  He wanted to be himself again.

For a few minutes there was a perplexed silence between them, both were unsure of what to ask and afraid of a terrible answer.  It seemed enough to just be able to sit with each other.  Eddie went to lean on his hand, putting his elbow on the table and clearing his throat “So Deanna, uh, how were things in Georgia?” 

“Not much to tell, things were hard for awhile.  Lots of work and not much else.  We scrounged money together for a computer right before I left.  I’m realizing how cut off from things I really was.  I mean, I didn’t know how to contact you at all.  When I sent a note to the address that was on the news article you sent, it was returned.”    
                “…Yeah that’s, I think that was around the time I moved apartments.”

“Anyway, you said you were just taking a walk.  Do you live around here?” 

His eyes flicked away for a moment “I’m in the area, but I’ve been renovatin.’”

Deanna half rolled her eyes “Eddie you’re going to have to talk to me about what’s going on eventually, but…” She glanced at the clock on the wall “…right now I need to go to work; do you want to meet up somewhere later?”  She pulled up her bag and stood up, taking her coffee in one hand.  Eddie stood up with a jolt and shoved the table accidently, he fixed it quickly and then tried to regain his composure, “Uh, yeah that sounds good.  We could meet here again later.  You’re here every mornin right?” Deanna shifted her footing “Almost, sometimes I’m here around five in the evenings too.  Do you have a cell phone number or a home phone?  Uhm, or an email address?” 

Eddie twitched “I just lost my cell a few days ago and I never had a landline.  I don’t think my email works anymore, got hacked.  Sorry.”  He made up excuses quickly, he could steal a phone later but right now he had nothing on hand.  Deanna shook her head “Ok then. Well I’ll see you sometime.” 

The large man suddenly pulled Deanna into a hug, some of her coffee spilled to the floor and she made a small squeak at him.  His grip was tight, like he didn’t want to let go, he spoke quietly “I’m so sorry.  For the… I just…”  He held his breath and pulled away, his attitude instantly changing to a strangely lighter tone, “you need to get to work.”  Deanna just looked at Eddie as he walked her to the door quickly “Eddie, there’s something wrong isn’t there?” 

“No no!  Everything’s fine.  It’s great actually.”  He chuckled as he and Deanna walked out the door “It’s great.”  He repeated and Deanna swore she saw something black creeping into his eyes and mouth, but he turned away to walk in the opposite direction of her, quite quickly actually.  Eddie waved back at her as he scurried away; Deanna made a small shallow wave at him and started walking down her normal path.  His attitude change confused her and created an uncomfortable feeling in her gut that she couldn’t ignore.  She glanced back and found that Eddie was already gone, it was odd but Deanna just moved forward, figuring she’d see him again soon.

Eddie had turned multiple corners quickly; he could already feel his mind warping again.  Venom’s grip on him tightened, making Eddie grab his head as he tried to keep in control long enough to get out of Deanna’s range and into a vacant area.  He growled loudly, his whole body tensing. The feeling of his legs giving out was hitting him, and then it stopped suddenly.  Eddie’s tremors completely ceased and his growls turned into a dark distorted chuckle as Venom mended with his mind completely again.  The feeling of power was like a drug as Venom sent waves of dopamine into Eddie’s system.  All Eddie had was an illusion of control once Venom decided it wanted to use him again, all it had to do was force Eddie to love being one with the symbiote. It wasn’t very hard, and Eddie had little ability to fight it for long.  He didn’t even want to fight once the symbiote persuaded him. 

His body strained and grew as the symbiote formed around his limbs, changing his chemical structure as it did.  Black goo crawled out over his skin like webs, wrapping around him.  His laughter deepened to a cruel cackle as the ooze formed around his face, creating jagged jutting teeth and a thick prehensile tongue.   Muscles strained and pulsed with vitality as Venom overtook Eddie’s body completely with a roar.  Venom twitched and stretched its claws, now more than twice as large as Eddie normally was.

The daylight filtered onto what was once Eddie Brock, hunched over in the shade of an alley with drops of drool dripping off its fangs.  Venom was aware of how compromising being in a lit area could be, and Eddie was warning that Deanna still might be close enough to hear them or come back for them.  Venom made a low growl as it moved with ferocious speed towards a manhole.  It pulled off the cover with ease and slipped inside, a few onlookers saw the large monster, but promptly walked away with baffled expressions and fear in their eyes. 

Venom made his way away from area, slipping through the large sewer system with ease.  He just needed to get away from Deanna for now and wait for the sky to darken. 


	4. "Friend"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isn't coffee wonderful?

 

A few days passed without much incident, no sign of Eddie on anymore of his walks either.  Deanna started to worry about him, fearing that he had gotten into some kind of horrific trouble involving some shady group to get money.  His lying always had a habit of landing him in sticky situations.  Even as a child he would get into fistfights with kids over the constant lies that he spouted off.   Though Deanna was nowhere near as strong as she was now, she still could help get incessant bullies away from Eddie when he had diarrhea of the mouth.  “Eddie you know they’re smarter than that!  Your lies will keep getting you in trouble, not everyone will believe you like the littler kids with that cat you said you saved.  It’s not the same.”  Eddie would nod and rub at his deep purple bruises, knowing there was no reason to argue with Deanna.  Usually Deanna would sport bruises of her own from protecting Eddie when he had breaks of stupidity.  Her Mother and Father would quickly become concerned by this, but they at least seemed to understand that her friend needed help.  The help she gave seemed to work at the time, but Deanna knows that Eddie could have easily reverted back as soon as she left.

She tried not to think too deeply about the possibilities on the way home.  This became much easier to do when she saw the now common set of peering white eyes staring at her from an alleyway.  The creature known as Venom rustled some garbage cans when it was spotted.  It didn’t run, just seemed to merely try to hide its massive bulk.  Even with the clouded afternoon light, it was still easy to spot Venom’s shimmering void of a figure now that Deanna knew what to look for.  Her steps stopped suddenly and annoyance mixed with frustration brimmed inside her.  Clenching her bag as under her arm, she moved forward to the figure by a few feet “What?  What do you want?”  Her voice came out quick and sharp, this seemed to cause the venous creature to shudder. 

Deanna’s eyes flared and she tensed, wanting this _thing_ to just give her an answer.  Venom made an inhuman groan and strained its voice “ _Friend…”_ His mind was a flurry of conflicted emotions, Eddie was trying so hard to be in control, influencing their joined mind to not hurt or scare Deanna.  Venom himself didn’t have much of an interest in Deanna, his need to be near her stemmed from his host.  The symbiote was indeed insane, Eddie’s emotions had broken what mind it had down into pure emotions and racing thoughts.  Control was out of reach for both of them, but in these moments they tried so hard to seem unthreatening towards Deanna.  Childhood memories and nostalgia had a grip on them both; in the back of their mind they desperately wanted to have some sort of connection to Deanna again. 

Venom grabbed his head, the multitude of thoughts made it hard to keep still or calm.  When they were after Spider-Man, their thoughts were clear and clean.  Both Eddie and the symbiote hated Peter Parker with a passion so they worked perfectly together when hunting the lanky teen.  Now though, their thoughts were mixed and hard to control except in bursts.  Eddie was mostly suppressed now, and Venom’s animalistic behavior had a better grip on what they did.  All that Eddie truly did for now was influence emotions and thoughts. 

Soon Venom repeated the word “ _Friend._ ” and Deanna paused, tilting her head.  She stared at the being as he quivered with uncertainty, “Why do you keep saying that? And what the hell are you?”  Venom twitched as deep inside Eddie was reminded of how this form appeared to be a monster.  Inside Eddie felt a welling feeling of self loathing.  On all fours he took a few creeping steps back and Deanna nearly yelled “DON’T JUST RUN.  Tell me what you are, I know you can speak.  So try to use more than two words to give me some answers.”  Venom stopped in his tracks and Eddie yelled in his mind to not tell her about them.

All Deanna heard was an alien groan of discomfort before the creature spoke again “ _We are… Venom… We won’t harm you.  We want to have a friend.”_ Eddie was struggling inside Venom to not have them sound pervasive.  He grabbed his head again and some saliva dripped off Venom’s long fangs as he made a low dark groan “ _W-We mean no harm.  Friend. Only Friend.”_  There was a tinge of genuine sweetness in his lurid voice that seemed almost familiar to Deanna.   She looked at the tenebrous creature as it tried to lurch away again, wanting to ask ‘why’ again, but she knew he would not answer her clearly so there was no reason to try again. 

She stared at the iridescent eyes of what wanted to be her friend, “Why were you in that alleyway with those men before?  You were shot; I know you were, what were you doing there?  How did you live?”   Venom’s body seemed to convulse and shift, cowering inward, almost curling into a ball.  Its body shifted and it made a deep rumbling sound as what seemed like fluid tendrils started to slither over and beneath his murky skin.  Deanna stepped back, her face distorting into an expression of disgust and apprehension.  Suddenly Venom let out a pained screeching howl as his mind felt stretched thin.  Too many questions, so many winding paths to vagueness, the insanity wasn’t allowing their mind to think.    Deanna nearly jumped back as Venom hurled himself into the air and onto a nearby building, making multiple bounding leaps away from her.  He was surely blocks away within a few seconds and Deanna was left with nothing more than a racing heart in her chest and questions on the tip of her tongue. 

It took a couple of minutes of watching a piece of newspaper flutter slowly down the alley for Deanna to fully realize that the inky mass of muscles just literally bounded away in massive leaps.  A cough from someone passing by Deanna stumble as she looked back into the street.  Cars drifted quickly past her, there weren’t many near this area of which consisted mostly of homes and apartments.  The cough was from an elderly woman passing by and Deanna followed jaunty lady with her eyes before letting out a long sigh and relaxing.  Her back straightened up and she tried to clear her head as she started up her walk home once more. 

Her pace was slow as she was lost in her thoughts of what was happening.  Venom barely said anything and it only made her want to question the beast more.  Her feet seemed to drag from her daze.  Inside her head she felt like a ping pong ball being hit back and forth between feelings of distress and strange comfort.  Comfort, she couldn’t understand why through all the tormenting anxiety that Venom caused her; she still felt peaceful contentment about him being around in retrospect.  The tension in her mind made her silently grind her teeth.  It pained her that she couldn’t understand herself or what was happening, her own emotions now seemed like an enigma to herself. 

When she reached her apartment, she felt a wash of relief come over her.  The day was over and she could rest, there was some reading and paperwork to do, but nothing that didn’t allow her to relax.  Her room was now fully stocked with items brought over from Georgia.  Many items had an unfortunate peach theme to them that she couldn’t help.  Most of her clothes and plates had at least one brightly painted peach on them.  The room it’s self was still spacious, she didn’t bring much from Georgia other than things to make her feel at home and things that her parents hid in her luggage with care.  She even had local peach wine somewhere in her fridge. 

Deanna set her bag down and pulled off her jacket, trying to get comfortable, then something caught her eye.  After a short pause she started to walk towards her tightly closed window.  On the ledge outside was a styrofoam cup with still steaming contents.  It couldn’t have been there when she left; there was no reason for her to leave a cup in such a place, and the cup was still emitting obvious heat.  She opened the window with extreme curiosity and then slowly took the cup in her hand.  It was indeed quite warm in her grasp; she looked it over and found that the name etched on it had been scratched out.  Her wits told her it could be poisoned, possibly some new method being used by alleyway punks that want to watch someone writhe in pain from afar.   Still, Deanna didn’t want to dump it just yet, she made a motion with her hand to make the smell of the coffee waft up to her nose and then she was taken aback by surprise.

The smell was so familiar; she ordered it every time she went out to get coffee anymore.  Mocha latte with the faint smell of caramel.  She took in the sweet wondrous aroma of the drink, letting the heat warm her fingers as she looked around outside.  Other than people walking on the sidewalk as usual, there was no one in site that stuck out or seemed to be watching her.  Her eyes wandered to look above her; maybe it was a window cleaner’s coffee that they had accidently set down at her window.  There was no one, just her looking around aimlessly.  It was so odd, the circumstances made her start assuming things.  She sighed, speaking out loud as she took a cautious sip of the sweet drink “Friends.”

Her coffee was just as good as always, maybe even better tasting than usual from the strange happenstance of her acquiring it.  In her mind she knew it was still dangerous to drink it, to take a chance with the random substance, but she figured there would be no reason anyone would drug her in her own home.  The rich, sharp and nearly bitter taste rolled over her tongue smoothly, followed by sweetness of caramel which made her smile.  She watched the sky grow darker hues of red with the sunset, sipping on her comforting latte. 

Questions flowed out of every nook in her mind, but she tried to keep calm and take things as they happened.  Though still, if Venom did get her this drink, how did he know her favorite flavor?  How close was he actually watching her, was he watching her somewhere now?  With that thought, she glanced around outside, looking at the dark corners in her sites, waiting to see glowing white eyes.  There was nothing, she even glanced around her own room, just in case.  Still she was left alone to her thoughts that gave her absurd answers that she chuckled at. 

There was a thought that crossed her mind, to look up this ‘Venom’ creature on the internet, to see what it was. She shook her head at this, doubting there was anything on the man.  She did realize however that she would need to figure out what this thing was at some point and looking for any information would beneficial.    At the same time though, she wanted to make that creature tell her what it was, why it was here and what actual purpose it had.  She wanted to hear it from Venom, to make him speak so that she could fully understand.  In reality though, she knew that she may not actually ever see Venom again, this all could just be a fluke and he may have left. 

Uneasy and unsure were how her mind settled that night as she crawled into bed.  Her mind stirred from the extra caffeine in her system, she probably shouldn’t have had the drink, but she loved the flavor and gratification of it.  Minutes upon minutes passed of her staring at the ceiling, counting the popcorn texture dots and trying to make shapes out of it while she willed herself to sleep.   The shapes kept coming out monstrous in her mind, soon causing her to roll over and stare at her closet.  That didn’t exactly help; her mind had a field day with her closet, making her believe something was in it, something that was dark with a lashing tongue and long sharp teeth.  This thought made her grip her pillow tightly, but for some reason she also didn’t mind the thought.

At least if it were there, in her room, she would be able to talk to the Venom beast and maybe force it to make some sense to her.  It was hard to tell what she wanted anymore, the situation was so strange and put her on edge.  She would figure it out eventually; things always come together and work themselves out. 

As Deanna fell asleep to sweet dreams, she could hear metal being hit outside and a guttural howl, but she was far too exhausted to stop her drift into unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters maybe start coming at a slower rate. I'm still writing, but it's just taking me more time to get these chapters out now.


	5. A Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's an awful smell outside.

Rotten meat was the first smell to hit Deanna’s nostrils the next morning.  She woke with a start, the smell finally being strong enough to wake her up.  Following the smell led her door, the sound of flies skittering and hitting her window as they tried to get in was easily heard.  A sharp fear hit Deanna in the chest, starting to worry about what she might find.  A quick check of the fridge reassured her that nothing in her home was making the retched smell. 

She opened the door slowly and the strong stench of drying blood and festering flesh hit her fully.  Her eyes watered slightly from the sharp iron smell, it was familiar to her, being on a farm did involve her family butchering their own food.  Though like anyone opening their door to a dead deer head, she was remarkably bewildered to see it bleeding on her doorstep.   Her hand shot up to cover her mouth, wincing at the site. 

The neck of the dear appeared torn and fresh, it wasn’t highly decomposed but the flies hungered for it, lapping at the beast’s bloodied eyes and sticky neck stump.  It was a rather large deer head, the antlers had been jaggedly broken off.  There were no bullet holes to be found, if it was killed by a hunter then they were a horrible shot.  Though this didn’t appear to be done by a hunter, a vertebra poked out jauntily from it and pieces of torn meat hung out of the powerful thick neck of the dead creature, giving the severed head the appearance that it had been forcefully ripped away from the body.  Its eyes bulged with eternal fear, the outside of them having a dry sheen of the eyelids being open for hours.  Flies generously gathered in its gaping sanguine mouth and around its eyes.  Its fur was gathered in tuffs from the clotted blood that seemed to coat everything, adding to the suspicion that the head had been inhumanly ripped away from the body.

Staring seemed to be the only thing to do at the time, Deanna wasn’t sure what to do with the still oozing head.  It then became apparent that the smell had roused her from sleep much earlier than a usual morning; the other tenants seemed to have not noticed the dead animal’s stench yet.  She was grateful for this, she didn’t want to have rumors and bad opinions spread about her so early into her new life.  Then the thought occurred to her, _how long has the head been here?_ It couldn’t have been more than an hour or so ago, seeing as no one had noticed it up until now. 

A deep echoing sigh gurgled out of the still very groggy Deanna as she decided to haul the Deer head down the stairs herself.  She paused to get gloves and an apron with a smiling peach on it. She wasn’t going to weep for the loss of the gaudy apron; it would die for a good cause, the cause of not getting possibly diseased blood on her.   

With a sharp exhale, Deanna picked the head up by the antler stumps, getting a good sturdy grip on the dripping head.  It made a sickening squelching noise when it was lifted, more of the gore from its head and neck poured to floor with a plop.  Flies swarmed in a frightened hurry as their home was lifted away. Deanna’s face twitched and she steadied it on the front of her apron, hooking her arms up as she slowly made her way down the stairs.  The deer was heavy, but Deanna could easily keep it supported as long as she didn’t fully think about what she was carrying, even though it was almost as big as her torso.  Bits of dirty meat and thick blood kept sliding onto the floor with soft gushing noises from every step. 

Eventually she made it out the back door and threw the decrepit thing into the nearest open dumpster.  The dumpster appeared to have new dents in it, which made Deanna recall the sound of howling in the night. She stretched her arms when they were finally free of the heavy carcass, she was now drenched in smeared dark blood, the crimson shade had turned a coppery brown from all the time left out in the air.  She wiped her hands off on her ruined apron and rubbed at an itch on her nose with the back of her hand, trying her best not to get blood on her skin.

Her eyes wandered up to the sky, the moon was still visible, she guessed it must have been two or three in the morning.  A few stars tried to desperately be seen and she let the full event wash over her while she stared at them.  She let out a growling groan to the sky as it fully hit her that she had just moved a deer head off her front step at 2am.  Her brow furrowed and she grunted out “Venom.”  Feeling there was no doubt he had done this.  She wasn’t sure how, but he must have done it. The howling in the night had to have been from him. 

Without thinking she whipped around quickly, expecting to see him watching her.  There was nothing, no glowing eyes in site.  A heavy feeling was felt in her chest; she wasn’t sure what she would have done if he was there to begin with other than yell.  He ripped apart a deer; he could do the same to her easily.  It didn’t change the fact that she wanted to express her feeling about the situation and that the absence of his presence made her tense more. 

She looked down and made her way back inside the building, quickly changing out of her clothes and throwing the blood soaked fabric into a garbage bin.  Even with her cheery apron, there was still a good amount of gore on her nightwear. 

A quick shower and a small breakfast later, Deanna still nearly fell asleep on the dining table.  She briskly patted at her face, trying to sharpen her sense and wake herself up.  “Fuckin… Venom.  I wanted to sleep.”  Her eyes blink slowly, random shadows of dreams prevailed her mind throughout the morning.  Everything went by with a blurry haze to it; this included her half assed cleanup job of the blood outside.  Some windex and a wad of paper towels to hastily wipe up the blood was a good enough for her at this point.  She tried not to dwell on what happened too much, she didn’t need winged deer heads flying around in her dreams.

The time leading up to the walk towards the coffee shop seemed to melt and lose its form in her mind like a candle that’s been burning for too long.   She barely remembered putting on clothes, and she ended up checking her bag every few minutes, forgetting if she actually packed her things or not. The blearing feeling reminded her of being in primary school when she didn’t know how to make healthy sleeping decisions.

Large hands gently touched Deanna’s shoulders and she whipped around quickly and sharply, ready to punch and run from whoever touched her.  Unfortunately she tripped instead, turning was too much for her tired body and it didn’t comply with the speed.  Eddie held onto her and helped her regain her balance.  “Forgetting how your legs work again Deanna?”

She pushes herself up “Shush Eddie, I’m just tired.”  Eddie’s gigantic arms were jerkily wrapped around her and then shakily pulled away when she seemed composed again.  Though there was a hesitation between them both, Deanna felt a need to lean on him, almost wanting to just fall asleep in his arms. Her eyes felt so heavy. The thought made her face darken with a blush, though Eddie’s mind wasn’t far off from the subject, wanting just as much to hold her.   They seemed to both just agree to not mentioning their sudden warm facial colors. 

“So uh, Eddie, out on one of your walks again?”  

He nodded and took a step back from her, letting Deanna stand on her own “Yeah and well, I wanted to see you again.  I’ve been busy, sorry that I didn’t meet up with you sooner.” He pulls at the collar of his dark shirt, which appeared quite tight, “How have things been?”

She paused and shifted her weight to a lazier standing position, shaking her head “How about I tell you over a cup of coffee?  It’s, uhm, hard to word out.  I need some time to think of what to say.”

Concern starts to show on Eddie’s face “Something bad then?  Ah, that’s not good at all.  But yeah, I’d love to get a cup of coffee with ya.”

Deanna face twitches into a smile “Thanks Eddie, it’s nice to see you.  I was getting worried that you got into some kind of trouble.”  She starts to walk again, Eddie following closely.

A nervous forced chuckle escaped him “Nope nope, everything’s been good, just a lot of work boggin me down. Please just, uh… Don’t worry about me.”  His eyes kept to the sidewalk, not wanting her to keep asking question.

“Right, sure.”  She grins “So what kind of work is keepin you down?”

Eddie paused, he didn’t think this through well enough “I uh, it’s hard to explain, just been havin to take more time to work on stories.  Ya know, Reporter things.  Listen I don’t want to bore you, so let’s just move on, alright?” His eyes flicked around and he hoped she would just let the subject go before Venom started stirring again.

“Fine Eddie, fine. You seem so anxious about something though. I won’t bother you about it, I hate seeing you whine.” 

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the coffee shop, strange how time seemed to move faster when in good company.  Eddie seemed more open to talking today, as if he was trying to get closer to Deanna and reminisce about being kids. His demeanor was comforting and made the memory of the early morning easier to bear.  It was also easy for Deanna to go silent and get lost following the structure lines of the man’s face.  The features were distinctly chiseled; a powerful jaw with light unshaven scruff and visible cheekbones gave Deanna something nice to look at. It did occur to her that his features and stature could easily be thought of as intimidating, but she knew he still the person she remembered as a kid.

Intense azure eyes looked fixedly at Deanna with similar thoughts.  Eddie was taking the time to examine Deanna’s face.  There were soft curves on her cheeks and chin, a rounded and very petite face with intense, deep almond eyes and a modest flared nose.  Though today her eyes had dark circles under them from lack of sleep. She smiled with dainty full lips and Eddie felt a feeling a peace in him. 

It occurred to both of them that they hadn’t been talking for at least a few minutes.  Eddie felt warmth in his chest and he forced a cough into his hand “S-so you said about something bad happening, what was it?” 

Deanna shifted in her seat and broke her gaze to look over at the other patrons that had woken up so early in the morning “Well… I’ve been having this problem with some _creature_ lately and it kind of-“She sighed and Eddie started to tense up “- it left a deer head in front of my door. I don’t know if it was some kind of warning or what. The smell woke me up, it was horrible.”

Eddie started to visibly become uncomfortable “Oh s-so that’s why you’re tired.  What did the creature look like?  Did you see it?”

“I didn’t see it this time, but I’ve seen it before.  You wouldn’t believe it if I described it to you, but it’s very large and has a lot of teeth.”  Her hand came together as she fidgeted; lightly scratching at a hang nail “I’m not sure what it wants.  It keeps following and now this.  There was blood _everywhere_.”

Eddie rubbed at his throat; guilt filled him as he remembered what he and Venom did.  They tried so hard not to make Deanna afraid, but Venom’s insanity made him think that the deer head was a good idea.  He hesitated before he spoke “Well uh you know how cats bring dead mice and birds to their owner.  It’s their way of showing love and affection.  Uhm, so if it’s an animal or somethin, maybe that’s what it was doing?  Maybe it was just giving you a g-gift.”  He really hoped that the explanation was something Deanna would swallow.  It actually was what Venom and Eddie had in mind within their crazed delirium.  Figuring she’d appreciate them giving her a present of the large stag’s head.  He understood now that it was a horrible idea and now he figured he’d try to better Venom’s image “So maybe the thing likes you or something.  Has it hurt you?”

Deanna’s eyes had come to steady on Eddie with contemplation.  He twitched, knowing she only did that when she knew there was something wrong with his words.  “Eddie, I don’t think you understand what this thing is.  It’s a gigantic monster, that’s the only way I can put it.  I don’t think it was-“

“Did it hurt you?”

“I… No.  It didn’t, not physically, but mentally it’s been really putting some stress on me.  I don’t know what it wants.  I really doubt it’s just acting like some stray cat.”

The word _‘monster’_ rattled around in Eddie’s head, he desperately just wanted to explain himself and have her understand that he wasn’t trying to scare her.  A feeling of tightness spasmed in his chest, he could feel Venom stirring in his mind, he needed more time.  Eddie swallowed hard as he tried not to show how hurt he was “Maybe just try to give it a chance.  It just sounds like it doesn’t have bad intent if it’s just some animal.” 

Deanna blinked at him a few times, trying to understand him.  _Why is he defending this thing?  He doesn’t even know what it is._ She played with the sleeve of her shirt and then took a sip of her coffee slowly “I really don’t know what to think of this thing.  I’ll see what I can do later.  So why are you so interested in defending that creature?”

“I just think it might be not as black and white as you might think, that’s all. It’s just a suggestion.”  He sipped his coffee, trying to play off everything with a small grin, hiding the flurry of fear and emotions welling up in him.

“Right right.  Yeah I’m sure it’s not as completely terrifying as my mind likes to think.”  _He knows something. Why is he hiding it?_

“Anyway, I’m real sorry you had such a mess of a morning.  Ya really don’t need any more stress.”  There was a twinge in his muscles; the stress was driving Venom mad.  He smiled more as an accidental reaction to his anxiety, rousing a suspicious glare from Deanna “Oh hey De’, you have work right?  You better get going. I’ll leave you be.” He pulled out his chair quickly and got up in a hurry, already making his way to the door.

Deanna followed him up “You don’t have to leave Eddie, I’m sorry if I’m bothering you with these problems.”

“No, it’s fine, I like talking to you I-“ There was a sharp visible spasm on his neck, a vein seemed to bulge and he held it with his hand “I have to go.”  He stumbled out of the shop briskly and Deanna stuttered out “It was nice seeing you!” 

She sat back down quietly and tried to not glance back at the other customers who had made weary glares at her and Eddie.  Slowly she finished her coffee, thinking about what he had said.  There was a nagging suspicion in her mind, but she shook her head at the silly thought.

Eddie was struggling with keeping his form, Venom’s voice and meddling wasn’t helping.  His joints kept popping with every step and to passersby he looked as though he was ready to kill someone, with his teeth clenched and face strained.  

_Monster, she thinks we’re a monster._ His hand clenched at his chest, he felt a great emotional pain in his heart.  _We are a monster, she’s right; we’ve killed… so many…_ The thoughts hurt and he stopped to lean against a wall with his eyes clench shut.  He held himself and felt pulses of energy run through him.  _No, we’ll show her we’re not. We are good, we’ve helped people.  She is wrong…Right…Wrong._

He started to smile and chuckle as teeth filled his mouth “ _She’s wrong about us. We’re good, she’s confused.”_   Normal thoughts decayed into a mix of ecstasy filled lies that Eddie and Venom both agreed on.  It was easier to agree on something that didn’t hurt and only boosted their ego.  Each step forward started to elicit a minute laugh from Eddie.  Soon he slipped into the darkness of shadows to change rapidly “ _We’ll show her._ ”


	6. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's becoming easier to adjust to new developments when you don't constantly analyze them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's taken so long to update, I've had work and life to deal lately and I haven't had much time to write. I am planning on finishing this story, though I don't know how long it will take. Don't be surprised if it takes me awhile to update again, but I do plan on updating. Also, today is my birthday, have a gift.

The next morning had a far easier start than the last.  No horrific bloody problems seemed to arise as Deanna’s alarm started to beep loudly in her ear. Groggily as usual, she sat up and started to go about her morning routine.  She went about getting some clothes together and forcing herself to look half way decent before heading to the kitchen.

As she started to butter the plain toast she quickly prepared, something caught her eye.  Outside her window, on the little ledge, sat a white styrofoam coffee cup in all its lightly steaming glory. After staring in awe at the cup and feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, Deanna took a piece of toast with her, eating a few bites as she made her way towards the windowsill.  She placed the slightly burnt bread in her mouth as she opened the window and retrieved the familiar cup.

After finishing her toast, she sniffed the contents of the cup and was unsurprised to catch the familiar twinge of a caramel scent.  Her favorite drink was on her windowsill again.  Slowly she tilted her hand and eyed over the sides of the cup.  Then there was something that did truly surprise her, carved hastily in the styrofoam were the words ‘WE’RE SORRY.’  Deanna’s eyes widened.  The sheer aspect of Venom apologizing amazed her, even if it was just shakily carved words.  This solved two questions in her mind, if this creature was trying to scare her and if it could understand her fully.  Two words are very little to make assumptions on, but the coffee happened twice, and she knew it was Venom who had given it to her now. There was no doubt it was him, the circumstances were too lined up to be anything else. 

Now there was a new question though, how did it know to apologize?  Deanna thought back to the last morning, she was obviously infuriated, but she didn’t see him anywhere around.  He could have easily just been somewhere out of site, watching her.  Though that was the most logical explanation, her mind made a route to a different idea, possibly brought on by her morning haze.

Eddie’s speech about Venom yesterday was raising Deanna’s suspicion.  She sipped at her coffee, taking in the sweet flavors as she glared out the window.  Pieces started to fit together that probably wouldn’t have if she wasn’t in such a dreamy mood, like how strange it was for her to come in contact with a strange creature and then meet an old friend.   Or how her old friend seemingly defended this creature he supposedly knows nothing about.  She wondered if it was possible that Eddie and Venom knew each other, a stranger idea was that they were the same person.

Her eyes narrowed as she raised the coffee cup once again, taking a long sip.  Or she tried to, but the opening was slightly away from her mouth and caused some of the warm liquid to spill down her chin and neck.  She let out a grunt at the feeling and then mumbled curses, walking away to find a paper towel and clean up the small mess.

The little accident was enough to take her mind of the mostly silly ideas crawling around in her head.  Even if the inklings were incredibly close to the truth, she had no way of knowing this, so she set the odd notions off to the side.   

She dabbed a damp cloth on her sweater to try to rid it of the sticky feeling that was settling from the coffee, then she started to head out with her things.  The sun was slowly rising out over head; there was no need to stop by the coffee shop so she took her time enjoying the morning walk, sipping the remainder of her latte.  The air around had a pleasantly warm aroma of freshly made bake goods that did a wonderful job of masking the smoky scent of exhaust fumes.

Ideas of possible futures flashed through her thoughts; maybe this internship could take her far from her limited living conditions and into a someplace wonderful.  She imagined a large house with marbled staircase and secret doors leading to brightly lit rooms.  People would clamor about her projects and she would work with wonderfully talented people on collaborations. 

She let out a pleased breath that was cut short by the sound of a strange grunt.  The noise made Deanna stop quickly and turn.  At this point though, she had become fairly used to strange noises.  Though it didn’t stop her worries as she looked over and there in the shadows was a moving large creature.  Though she didn’t know if the feeling in her gut was more worry or interest anymore.

“Venom.  What is it?” She spoke to him as if he was an annoying co-worker.  He stood up tall and Deanna took a step towards him, this seemed to cause Venom some shock seeing as he took a quick step back and bent down in an attempt to appear smaller.  Deanna chuckled quietly “What is it, what do you want?” Her voice softened to not sound as harsh with him.  All of it seemed to catch him off guard, but he managed to point at the cup she still had in her hand “ _We wanted to apologize_.”

Deanna tilted her head “So you did give me this.  Why the hell did you put a fuckin stag head on my doorstep?”   Venom shuddered, Eddie was becoming more prevalent in his mind, trying to make things better _“…We thought you would like it_.” His bulky form twitched sharply _“We were wrong.”_

“Yes you were!” Deanna let out a groan and looked away, shaking her head “But it wasn’t a threat at all?” She looked back and Venom shook his head, then Deanna stared at him, trying to read the beastly creature.  There were so few features for her to examine, his pure white eye spots and ghastly toothy grin made him significantly harder to understand than Mr. Brock.  His body posture and facial muscles, if they were truly muscles and not some strange oily ooze, seemed to indicate a submissive and all around apologetic mannerism.  Her eyes flicked up and down his figure quickly before taking a few steps forward, her right hand inching up to lightly touch him over the brilliantly white spider symbol on his chest.  Curiosity was getting the better of her and this creature, Venom, seemed to have made no hostile moves towards her.

As Deanna’s fingers gently brushed across his large chest, followed by her palm pressing flat against it, Venom shivered and let out a low rumble.  The flesh covering him felt slick and slightly warm to the touch.  There was a minuscule movement under her fingers, just enough to draw attention to it.  Venom’s skin seemed to move around her hand, appearing to almost cling to her fingers. His back arched slightly as he pulled away from her hand for a moment, then silently he wrapped his large fingers around her wrist, holding her hand to him. 

Deanna could feel her chest tighten; a light fluttering feeling could be felt in her stomach along with her heartbeat increasing dramatically.  Venom’s touch was delicate and she could pull away at any time, but she saw no reason to.  Gradually and softly, he rubbed his thumb across her skin of Deanna’s wrist, causing her to shiver and let out a small gasp at the tender touch.  Deep inside of Venom’s chest, she could feel a meager heartbeat through all the smooth flesh, a fast pulse of excitement.  He let out another low rumble, causing his chest to vibrate with a non-threatening growl.

Venom tilted his head, pieces of the squirming flesh under Deanna’s hand started to wrap around her fingers faintly.  Her whole arm tensed and her eyes met Venom’s before she pulled her hand away.  The moment seemed to last for hours, though it truly spanned only a minute at most.

Hesitantly, Deanna stepped back.  Venom’s empty hand hung in the air for a moment, he looked almost lost.  Deanna’s voice cracked slightly “What are you?”

Silence fell between them as Venom’s head twitched and he whined _“Can’t...Explain.”_ Deanna could feel her heart still beating rapidly in her chest, he was being dismissive again and she hated it.  Unfortunately she was having trouble speaking, the unexpected rush of emotions caught her off guard and she needed to take a breath.

“F-Fine.  How about-“ She took in a deep breath to finish her sentence “-You meet me after I’m done with work?” She then mumbled “You know where I live.”

Venom stared; his musculature seemed to move in a flinch, flesh glistening as if it were crawling worms.  Before anything else was said between them, a passerby gave a loud sharp scream at seeing Venom “M-MONSTER. IT’S THAT MONSTER.”

Like a switch, Venom towered over Deanna, his features sharpened as his mouth opened wide to roar at the onlooker.  His muscles tensed and pulsed, tendons were showing through thickly as his demeanor changed.  Rows of teeth jutted out along with his wickedly long tongue. Deanna stumbled back away from Venom, gasping with fear in her eyes again. Eddie saw this and quickly Venom and he turned their sites back on Deanna, heaving as they breathed and whimpered.  The roar was reactionary; they felt a strong urge to kill the watcher for intruding.  Insanity picked at both their brains, and then panic started to spread.  _Leave, leave before something goes wrong._

Another step back from Deanna made Venom gurgle out a low sounding cry before quickly turning and running back into the shadows, out of sight in an instant.  Deanna stood in awe of what had happened.  She looked over at the onlooker who was now running quickly away with a ghostly look on his face. 

Minutes started to pass bye before she started walking to work again.  Her pace was faster than before, a feeling of urgency was forcing her heart to constantly beat quickly.  Inside her mind, she tried to not think about what possibilities existed now.  She felt the air seem to thicken and sicken her as regret filled her for telling that creature to visit her home.  For a moment of being near that thing, she felt something odd.  She seemed to feel some kind of connection to that thing; it made her uncomfortable and warm.

The other interns seemed to notice that she appeared to be concerned with other things than work that day.  She barely could pay attention, and she needed to desperately stay focused.  This work was important, it’s the whole reason she moved, but the possibility of a monster waiting for her at home wasn’t settling well. 

Apparently she was an open book about concerns.  Her acquaintance, a man that liked to go by Billy, pointed them out “Aye, Deanna, you doin alright? Ya look kinda not with it today.”

Deanna looked over at the lanky man with thin brown hair. He was only an inch or so taller than her and had green eyes that made her think of a swamp “Don’t worry about it, Bill.   Just some neighbors, that I’m not fond of, have been keeping me up lately.”

“Well that sucks. Uh, want me to walk ya home?”  Deanna gave Billy a half forced smile and shook her head “I’m fine really. I’d rather not-“

“Aw come on Anna, we could talk.  Could be fun.”  Deanna winced, no one usually ever called her Anna and it didn’t settle well.  She understood that Billy had good intentions, he seemed to try to make friends with all of the interns, but she didn’t want the company today.  There was also a pinprick of worry that he would be in far more danger than her. 

Deanna shook her head once more, her voice became firmer “Not today Billy.  I don’t need you to walk me home and I’d rather be alone.  If you want to get coffee or something later, then you could call me up.  You do have my number from before.” 

Billy nodded and sighed “Yeah sure.  That’s fine; I hope your neighbors start actin less shitty with ya.”  He looked at his watch “Well, I’mma head home now. See ya Monday.”  With that he started to walk away, and Deanna realized that it was indeed Friday, which made her think of how Venom could possibly be circling her apartment all weekend.

 _Call the cops._ It was a thought, but then she realized that there was nothing she could say that would warrant a report.  Telling them that a monster has been visiting her would only make them suspicious of her.  She could say that _someone_ has been harassing her, but then she couldn’t give them a real description of what he looked like and there was nothing that could be done. In the back of her mind, she didn’t feel she needed to actually worry.

Her walk home was cautious, though she wasn’t struck with fear, she was realistic.  She invited a monster to her house, and no matter how comfortable he made her for a few fleeting moments, there was no way she could predict his actions.  She glared at the ground, angry with herself for being so quick to tell Venom to just waltz inside her home.

Deanna’s eyes soon settled on her apartment complex in all its shoddily painted beauty.  She heaved out a loud sigh as she made her way to the front door of the building.  Her eyes glanced at the light next to the door as it lit up with the coming of dusk.  Then her eyes settle on a tiny Orb Weaver spider.  She didn’t remember seeing it there a few nights ago; she possibly just hadn’t noticed it though.  There was no apparent reason for her to suddenly calm, but the tiny being made her smile ever so slightly.  She decided to take it as a good omen for the night as she walked up the stairs.

After opening the door and taking a significant time to deduce a backup plan if Venom was standing in front of her, she found that her home had no signs of the creature.  Everything was ok, nothing was out of place.  There was no coffee on the windowsill or blood on the floor, her home felt empty and safe.  She ventured around her home and checked every room, still there was nothing.

She nearly threw her bag and jacket to the floor as she settled down on the couch.  Her back cracked as she settled in and relaxed, taking a moment to stretch and then close her eyes.  Thoughts flittered through her head and now she almost felt disappointed.   Deanna tried to push that feeling away, she was happy for the calm, but she had also committed herself to something happening.  Now there was nothing but her thoughts and the hum of the heater.

As soon as she started to drift to sleep, she heard something.  A movement from somewhere near her window.  Deanna’s eyes shot open and she sat up quickly, every muscle tensed.  She didn’t know how Venom’s large form had suddenly appeared in her home, but there he was, grotesque as ever.  Strands of his slick skin seemed to cling to her window and slowly move back towards his bulky form like writhing tentacles, as if he had somehow gotten through the window without opening it and pieces of his flesh were rejoining him.  He stood tall, looking down as his shape became solid once more.

Deanna’s mouth hung slightly open as she pushed herself further up on the couch, her hands clawed at the cushions.   She stared at him while hearing her own heartbeat in her throat “…Venom.”  With that, her hand touched at her jean pocket, feeling the knife within it.

Venom’s eyes darted up to her with their glowing menace, then he took a step back and hunched.  He was completely aware of the hostile emotions Deanna was displaying; he could see her shake ever so slightly as her whole body tensed.  Her lips were pursed and her jaw seemed sharply clenched.  His head went down as he spoke _“We were invited. We wanted to be friendly.”_

Now Deanna wasn’t sure if she truly regretted feeling disappointed before, though she expected to find out.  She slowly moved off the couch, her hand still felt at the knife in her pocket, “Yeah, guess I didn’t really think that invite through.”  This appeared to hurt Venom in some way, he moved to a crouch and his skin prickled as if he shivered.

She winced; he seemed to be trying so hard to not frighten her now, or to appear small.  He hadn’t technically broken in and he wasn’t threatening her.  She started to wonder if all her worries were uncalled for as she walked towards the quivering muscular mass.

“Uh, sorry.  Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, if I did… It’s just you’re… you know right?”  Shaking and hesitant, Deanna set her hand on Venom’s shoulder.  Immediately Venom looked at her and then her hand.  His flesh curled around her fingers, holding her hand gently to him.  Deanna didn’t pull away, though she did stare at the slow movement of sinew.  It was almost mesmerizing in the light; it didn’t seem as sickening or strange as it should.  Venom’s hand slowly moved up to hold Deanna’s hand to him.  Eddie just wanted her close, his mind felt clearer with her here, the symbiote’s insanity seemed to calm for the moment. Or maybe it was all the strain it took for them to maintain their composure that was giving them the illusion of sanity.

Deanna’s free hand moved away from her knife and towards Venom, his eyes seemed to shift and follow her movements as she very delicately touched at the creature’s cheek.  A deep rumble vibrated through him, he seemed to enjoy the light touch of her fingers.  Her hands quickly pulled away and Venom seemed to try to hold onto her for a short moment, “So now are you goin to actually listen to my questions and talk without running away?”  There was a pause and then the being nodded.

Venom started to stand, though he stayed slightly hunched, he still seemed to tower over Deanna and nearly touched the ceiling.  His claws fidgeted and created a clicking noise as they moved back and forth, _“We want you to not be afraid of us anymore.”_ Deanna studied Venom; his features were softer though still heavily outlined with thickly defined features.  His face was incredibly masculine along with the rest of him; his jaw was thick and strong looking.  The sharp teeth that were crammed into his mouth seemed to be slightly less intimidating than usual.  She nodded slowly and tried not to constantly glance over the figure in front of her for too long, she was finding his musculature to be very ‘distracting,’  “Right. Ok then.  First, why do you keep referring to yourself as multiple people?  Is there another person I don’t know about?”

He grunted and his body twitched heavily _“Reason… We have reason, but it’s hard to explain. It’s in our nature.”_ Deanna seemed unimpressed by the answer, “How many of my questions will be answered that way.”  Venom made a guttural sound resembling an uncomfortable whine _“Sorry.”_

Every time he made that noise, Deanna gave a small wince.  She waved it off “Don’t worry about it.” She glanced around and then meekly pulled at one of his fingers as she moved towards the couch “How about you sit down?”  Venom, unnervingly quickly, moved to the couch, sitting at the corner of it.  Deanna tried very hard to not mind him as she moved to the kitchen and brought out one of the many jars of peaches she had laying around.  She uncapped the jar and handed it to him “Here, they’re peaches.  My family loves sending me peach shit all the time now.  I like ‘em, but I have way too many.”  Venom sniffed at them and repeated the word ‘peaches.’  Eddie wasn’t extremely fond of the fruit, but he didn’t mind them, Venom on the other hand, apparently abhorred them.  As soon as the sweet fruit entered the undulating beast’s maw, it hacked and roared at the flavor.  A deep growl echoed in his throat as he swallowed the peach. Deanna took multiple steps back, starring.  Her face twitched at the extreme reaction towards the innocent fruit.  They had a look of deep distaste and disgust towards the fruit.  Eddie forced Venom and him to not immediately throw the jar at a wall; they turned to Deanna and softened _“We don’t like this.”_

“I see that.  I really do.”  She moved towards him and slowly took away the jar “No more peaches for you then. Ever.”  Her face was slightly pale as she set the peach jar back in her kitchen.  Gradually she made her way back out and sat down on the other end of the couch. 

A few strenuously awkward minutes passed of silence between them both before Deanna spoke again, pointing at Venom’s arm “So, what are you made of?  How did you get into my home without opening the window?”  She pokes his arm and his flesh tenderly grabbed her finger before letting go “Why does it do that.” 

In a fast fluid movement, Venom moved across the couch to lean over her.  Deanna scrambled back and frightfully grabbed at her knife, which she forgot to open up.  She stared him down, her body trembled from the sudden closeness and worry struck her.  His flesh seemed to move more than before, pulling away from him in large clumps to carefully hug and caress her.  His large hand went to her face to softly run down it _“We are not a single being.  Our flesh became one, this is what we are. We are not from this place; we can do things out of the realm of human flesh.  We will not hurt you, please don’t be scared.”_

Deanna truly didn’t know what to do or feel at the moment.  She didn’t feel afraid after he spoke, and she didn’t feel a need to move away either.  She simply stared at him with wide eyes and then she shuddered hard from the sensory overdrive of it all.  Her brain was trying to digest what he was able to do, that he was some kind of alien creature she could quite comprehend.  It didn’t help that she didn’t feel like she wanted to get away from him, which caused a yelling match in her head that eventually quieted down when Venom licked her face slowly.  His tongue almost curled around her neck.

They both stopped in confusion; Eddie was creating a furious riot inside his head of loud yelling so that Venom could understand how unhappy he was.  Deanna stared and made a small ‘eck’ sound that was about the only thing she could muster as both a word and show of emotion.  She was not at all disgusted, but that didn’t help her understanding. 

Venom’s tongue hung in a limp state and then he retracted it as his teeth clench and he heavily shuddered.  His body solidified once more away from Deanna and kept quivering as he held himself with his elbows on the couch keeping him propped over the now wide eyed woman.  He soon grabbed his head and made a loud groaning sound as there was conflict within their mind. 

“Uh I…”  Deanna stopped and Venom looked at her, his voice distorted and sounded horrifyingly familiar _“Sorry SORRY I… We’re sorry.  Don’t be mad.  I tried- It’s hard to stop things.”_

Now Deanna was shaking again, the voice was sounding too familiar and her mind was nearly frantic.  She coughed and then a though screamed through her head that didn’t make sense, but settled to the forefront. 

Her hand suddenly shot up and wrapped around her own throat, it was an old habit she had whenever she felt lost in a situation.  She felt her pulse race under her fingers, her grip wasn’t tight, it simply held.  It made her feel slightly better, though her eyes still flittered and her vision started to darken. 

Venom’s eyes seemed to create a shape of concern as he moved one hand to Deanna’s cheek _“Deanna…”_   His body still twitched and convulsed with movement, though now his attention was set to her.   She made a few noises and then tensed up sharply and gasped before passing out.

The distortion to Venom’s voice caused him to be nigh impossible to understand as he yelled Deanna’s name loud enough to wake the neighbors.  For a moment he was truly horrified when her hand went lax along with the rest of her.  He relaxed slightly when his hand felt her gentle breath.

A quiet sigh came from deep in his chest as he moved off the couch and took her in his arms.  She didn’t feel heavy to him and his large arms easily kept her propped up and close.  Some of the front portion of his body liquefied and wrapped around her to keep her weight up and her body comfortable.  One arm held her back up and the other kept her legs up.  Slowly and steadily he moved towards her room and soon set her down on the bed.  A few tendrils came from his arms and back to move away the top sheet as he lay her down.  Deanna barely stirred, simply relaxing and slightly shifting in place.

She soon started to twitch and fidget heavily in her sleep.  Tiny distressed noises came from her as dreams and problems mixed into a stew of wild thoughts.  She mumbled out something that was barely understandable “…Ed-Eddie…” Venom hesitated and then laid down next to her.  The symbiote reluctantly relinquished control for a short while as the ‘mask’ over Eddie’s face pulled back.  He felt worried at first, he almost wanted to just leave her and hope that things would be alright and her acknowledgement of him didn’t mean she knew what he was.  As Deanna shifted more, he stopped caring about her possibly putting the pieces together, at least for this moment.  Ever so tenderly he held her close and softly spoke “I’m here Deanna, it’s ok.  Your buddy Eddie is here.   Think of nice things...”  He rested his scruffy chin on top of her head and smiled.   The only thing that was revealed to be Eddie was his face; the rest of him still was large and covered in the symbiote’s ooze.

Tendrils stirred from Eddie and held onto Deanna, wrapping around her as well as keeping her comfortable.  He kept embracing her, his one arm acted as a pillow for her head while the other hand pleasantly stroked down her back.  She made a few soft noises from the closeness as her whole body relaxed.  Her position shifted slightly towards Eddie as her head bowed down to his chest. 

There was an ever slight rhythmic beat from Eddie’s heart that seemed to sooth Deanna’s dreams.  She drifted off into a deep REM sleep as Eddie held her close for the night.  His size nearly eclipsed her from view if someone were to walk in on them. 

Eddie’s mind was calm, both he and Venom were placid for the moment.  Having his friend so close caused him to have a fluttering feeling of warmth in his chest that he wasn’t used to.  He took in a deep breath and his eyes closed as he nuzzled the top of Deanna’s head, fluffing up her hair.  Without meaning to, he fell asleep for the first time in a long while, made better by his only friend cuddled up in his arms.

 


	7. An Obtrusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a companionship grows, life can't help but start putting obstacles in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm sorry for the delay on chapters. I have life and work as well as other hobbies to deal with, but I promise that I'm not giving up on this story. It just is going to take awhile for each chapter.

Tiny sparks of light filtered through the closed drapes, barely hitting Deanna’s eyes, the light having to traverse over Venom’s shoulder.  It was enough to rouse some annoyance from her, usually she was able to just turn away or scoot out of the light, but this time she was kept still by the hulking mass still on her bed.  She was in too much of a daze at the time and cuddled into Venom, hiding her eyes from the morning’s dawn.  The delirium of sleeping told her that she shouldn’t think about what she was using as pillow.

 For a moment, she even thought it was Eddie.  Her half dreaming mind put in an entire story as to how he arrived, and she didn’t at all question it.  Pictures of dislocated memories and ideas kept her at ease.

Then in an instant her waking mind fully screamed at her and she looked up at the still sleeping Venom.  His brow seem slanted in such a way to imply that his ‘eyes’ were closed or in a squinting state, and his breathing pattern was relaxed and slightly loud.  Deanna looked straight at the creature, not moving a muscle, but her eyes were wide.  She blinked rapidly for a moment, making sure it wasn’t some strange case of sleep paralysis.  Venom didn’t react at all to her stirrings, which made her believe that he or _they_ were still asleep. 

Venom was holding her as if she was a fragile teddy bear, keeping her close and still, but not tight enough to be uncomfortable. 

A few nearly limp tendrils twitched every so often on Deanna, making her tense.  It felt as if there was a lump in her throat from the whole thing and she desperately wanted to say something, but worried that waking Venom might cause an unpleasant reaction.  Her eyes darted around her own room as she tried to remember what happened to end up with him in her bed.  Blanks kept popping up in her memory, like remembering fragments of a dream.  She remembered him suddenly being close and hearing her heart thrumming in her head, then something happened after that, but everything came up fuzzy.  Due to her odd comfort in his closeness, she guessed it wasn’t anything horrible.  She didn’t feel any dread by being close to him.

Slowly she tried to control her breathing, calming down as she matched it up with the large creature.  She hadn’t ever really been so close to anyone before, and even if she had, Venom was such a special case that she was nearly sure that no one would be able to wake up to him and not feel heart palpitations.  Unless this was a normal thing for New York and she just didn’t know about it. 

Minutes passed slowly and eventually Deanna decided to ‘test the waters’ of Venom’s consciousness.  Warily she moved up one hand to touch his tightly veined neck covered in his gossamer flesh.  Her fingers traced over the lines of sinew, finding them oddly akin to cobwebs in some areas, except not nearly as tacky.  Quietly and slowly she moved her finger tips down his collar bone and over the white spider symbol on his chest.  The whole movement elicited a rumbling shiver from Venom, causing Deanna to momentarily stop and hide her head.  She felt and easily heard him take in a deep breath and tighten his arms around her slightly before resuming his sleep. 

She stared at the bed sheets until she felt the small rush of adrenaline fade, her heart no longer drummed in her ear.  Her index finger ran over the floral print on her bed sheets as she waited.  At this point, she wasn’t even sure if she was afraid of him at all, she treated this more like a game than a problem.  She peaked up at him timidly and then resumed her version of poking something strange with a stick.

This time she decided to prod at his face ever so gently near his mouth.  She poked at one of his jutting teeth on his lower jaw, making it wiggle slightly in place, appearing as though it wasn’t being held in place by any sort of bone.   When she moved to his upper jaw and towards his eyes, feeling the slightly softer flesh of his face, he twitched and his face crinkled up in a half snarl.  Deanna immediately stopped, her hand shaking in place, but it seemed to be just a reactionary movement.  She slowly continued, trying to find the bone structure of his face.

 Every so often, her tiny movements and grazes over his flesh caused him to shiver and make a low, lazy hum at her.  Deanna couldn’t help but chuckle at the small little groans he made at her and the subtle muscle twitches. 

Venom had eventually woken from her many prods and caught onto what she was doing.  He played along until her hand hovered near his mouth, then he licked it with his grotesquely long tongue, making her freeze in place. 

His chuckle was a deep throaty one that he couldn’t hold back _“Are you having fun?”_

“U-Uh-Uhhmm…” Deanna was shaking and her cheeks seemed to darken a shade as they inflamed with embarrassment.  Venom and Eddie seemed to have gotten into a full agreement about _not_ scaring Deanna as they tried to keep her calm.  Venom rested his forehead against Deanna’s ever so gently and spoke at almost a whisper _“You passed out last night, don’t be afraid. We just wanted you to rest.”_ This didn’t help the warm feeling in Deanna’s cheeks and she felt a small lump in her throat again and a fluttering in her stomach from the tenderness.

Deanna cleared her throat of morning phlegm before speaking “T-then why are you in my bed?”  Venom stopped and the shift on his face seemed to show that he was glancing away _“We… Fell asleep.”_

“You were lonely.” Deanna blurted out and then her eyes widened, realizing her words could be taken as harsh.  She didn’t expect that he would just stop and nod at her comment.

Then she felt it, she was really starting to trust him.  No matter what evidence was being shown, she couldn’t help but want to understand him better and have conversations with him.  Her mother always did think she showed far too much empathy towards creatures, “So is this all just because you’re lonely?  Is that the only reason?”

_“Is that a bad reason?”_

Deanna thought for a moment and moved slightly away so she wasn’t so close to his face “Well, why me in particular?  Why not someone else, it’s not like we met on a god damn high note.”

They went quiet; Eddie didn’t want her to know the true reasoning.  Venom made a grunt at her _“It’s complicated.”_ Deanna couldn’t help but sigh and roll her eyes compulsively at him.

“You know, I’m starting to actually not mind you, it would be nice if you gave me straight fuckin answers.”  She rubbed her temples and started to get up, moving to the edge of the bed.  Venom quickly wrapped his arms around her soft midsection and pulled her back down, making her squeak and tense up.  Her back was towards him and he kept his arms around her.  He was shaking and his powerful voice seemed to tremble _“Please don’t leave yet.”_

Venom bowed his head onto the crook of Deanna’s neck and she shuddered hard, she wasn’t at all used to people touching her neck in anyway.  She could feel his breaths hit her skin and she shivered as she tried to find words that fit “O-Oh Jesus Christ, Venom.  It’s the weekend, I’m not leaving yet, just let go.”  And so he did. 

Deanna quickly moved away and sat up at the edge of the bed, taking in deep breaths and holding her neck.   While sitting up and away from him, she could finally see how utterly huge he appeared when just lying down.  His form took up most of an entire half of the bed and his feet would have reached the bottom end if he didn’t have his knees slightly raised.  He was utterly hulking even when calm.  Her wide eyed staring made him tense and nervous.  Eddie started to feel a throbbing pain from Venom’s growing discomfort, forcing them to grab their head. 

There was an oddly calm tone to Deanna’s voice now “Are you ok?”  Venom’s body twitched and he looked at her, nodding, _“We will be.”_ He started to move, propping himself up and then crawling off the bed to stand _“We need air… Can we come back?”_

The statement made Deanna turn away to think, biting at her lips.  He was asking out loud if she wanted him around again, it was a chance for her to scream ‘no’ at him, but she didn’t want to.  As much as it confused her, she didn’t want him to just leave and never come back.  She wanted to understand him and herself better, but not get rid of him.  She mumbled “Yes.  I’ll leave the window open for you.”  She wasn’t sure how he would fit, but he fit through the unopened window, so she wasn’t all that worried. 

A clicking sound could be heard behind her as Venom opened her bedroom window and made his way out.  His body deformed slightly to fully fit through the window, Deanna turned just in time to see him hurtle up into the air with one of his great jumps, then shoot webbing from his hand to swing off on.  He was gone and out of sight in an instant, probably picking up stares from onlookers that Deanna desperately hoped wouldn’t go looking around her apartment complex. 

With a relaxed hum, she fell onto her bed to rest a small while longer and get her thoughts together.  Her eyes fluttered, but she did not sleep, simply going in and out of randomized thoughts.

Venom raced through the city with fast glee, laughing loudly and hysterically at times, not even noticing a particular pedestrian watching him escape Deanna’s apartment.  Peter Parker took a quick picture of the complex, unable to get venom in the shot in time.  He worried for the person inside, if there was anyone inside.  As far as Peter was concerned, Venom was always up to something heinous and he couldn’t help but want to investigate.  He quickly headed towards the complex, taking note of which floor and window Venom had leapt out of.  If anything, he was at least glad that Venom didn’t notice him and cause a public fight with him while he wasn’t Spiderman.

He made his way up the stairs quickly, thinking that there might be limited time left for whoever was inside.  He stopped at what he suspected was the room and knocked quickly.

Deanna grumbled at the door, figuring it was what she feared.  Someone saw, someone wants answers.  She started to get up and then yelled towards the door as the knocking became frantic “ONE SECOND.”  There was a large amount of cursing under her breath as she made strides towards the door.

She opened it to an average looking young man, slightly athletic looking with short brown hair and gentle hazel eyes.  He wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, with a large looking camera hanging from his neck.  Deanna’s eyes immediately widened and dropped their sights towards the camera ‘Dear god no, don’t tell me you took a picture of venom. Please no.’ Where her thoughts, her words however were “What do you want?” 

Peter nonchalantly glanced around inside Deanna’s room for a moment before speaking; there was some surprise in his face upon realizing that neither this woman nor her room had been ravaged in any way. “Hi ma’am, sorry, I know you don’t know me, but I saw something leap out of your window and I wanted to ask if you were alright.”  She nodded “Yeah I’m just fine, what did you see?” Peter could hear a slight breeze rustle through the apartment from the open window, he was so sure it was this room.

Peter took in a deep breath and almost had an amused tone to him, “Well I thought I saw some big monster leave here and I was worried about who ever lived here.” 

Deanna started to close the door slightly “There was no monster; I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Are you on some kinda medication that you forgot?”

Peter tried to keep a calmed demeanor, “No no, you don’t understand. I thought I saw Venom leave here.  Ya know, that murdering criminal that made the papers a lot.” Deanna grew very quiet and started to slowly frown, staring at the ground, then blinking and shaking her head “Excuse me what? I’m sorry; I just moved here from Georgia, I don’t know anything about this city’s criminals.  What do you mean murderous?” 

After swallowing hard, Peter decided to continue “He’s one of the worst criminals here, he’s completely insane and murdered god knows how many people at this point.  The stuff covering his body is, believe it or not, straight from space.  I don’t know if you remember the mission to space awhile ago, but he came from that.  I did stories on it.” 

There were no good words Deanna could think of, there couldn’t be another person like Venom, there was no way, but she didn’t think he was a murderer.  Maybe he wasn’t right in the head, but she didn’t think he was that horrible.  Peter rubbed at the back of his neck and tried to draw her attention back to him “Uh excuse me, you ok?” 

“Yes, yeah I’m fine.  Sorry, who are you?” 

“Peter Parker, if you’re wondering, I work at the Daily Bugle, not the Weekly World News.  I know what I’m talking about.”  Deanna nodded “I didn’t see any alien murderer in my apartment, ok?  It’s my day off and I’d like to rest.  I’m fine, I didn’t see anything, so can you please leave me alone?”

He didn’t know what else to do, but to leave the poor lady alone.  Peter smiled and backed away with an awkward stance “Right right, sorry for the intrusion.  What’s worse than the neighborhood watch are actual neighbors right?”  He forced a chuckle and then started to walk away, mumbling “that was horrible Pete.” to himself.   

Deanna closed the door when Peter started to walk out, and then went to sit on her couch.  She started to speak out loud to herself “Why is this so damn hard.  Was that a mother fuckin sign that I’m horrible at picking friends or something?”  She sighed loudly and decided “FUCK IT, I don’t care anymore, worrying about this shit is going to give me a god damn aneurysm.  Whatever will be will be, I’m fucked no matter what at this point anyway.  If I tell Venom to fuck off then I’m sure he’ll be incredibly pissed, it’s better to just be nice.”  She leaned back and closed her eyes, only to open them quickly again “Fuck, I’m hungry.”  Then she realized that the only thing readily made to eat was the many peach products, the realization made her movements even more sluggish as she stood up.  Her teeth clenched “Peaches. Always damn Peaches.” 

It was surprising that Venom didn’t show up at all throughout the day.  Deanna thought that ‘getting some air’ meant that Venom wouldn’t be gone long, but hours passed without seeing him.  Every little noise made her look around and check her windows, but nothing ever appeared.  Reading up on spiders and watching horrible sitcoms can only distract someone for so long. 

Meanwhile Venom’s day was heading downhill when his plan to steal some coffee and food was interrupted by an incessant spider.   Venom had broken into a bakery through the back door, accidently ripping the door off its hinges while doing so.  Which drew attention to him as quickly as one would think.  It was far later in the day, but there were still people inside the shop.  The patrons ran and the bakers fumble about, afraid for their lives and income.  Venom growled out at them _“Move and maybe we won’t rip you apart.”_ That’s all it took for them to run and leave Venom alone, until a powerful kick hit him in the back, forcing the bulky creature to move forward from the impact.  He then spun around, roaring at the red and blue clad superhero in front of him. 

Spiderman chortled “Stealing from bakeries now?  That’s a bit out of the ordinary for you.  Isn’t that bad for your diet, meat head?    

Venom’s voice seemed to double in volume and ferocity, _“LEAVE NOW SPIDERMAN.”_ His form twitched as they tried to hold back the building rage from just seeing Spiderman.  Venom’s body seemed to pulse as he lunged towards Spiderman, who quickly dodged the powerful figure.  With a quick movement he shot two silk webs from his wrist at Venom that wrapped around the large monster’s body.  “So why did you leave that one lady’s apartment? Raiding bakeries and panty drawers now or something?”  It was useless though, Venom quickly broke the webbing with a roar, turning and running at Spiderman with such forced that he pushed Spiderman through a counter with him.  _“NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS WORM.”_  The wooden counter broke and splintered into multiple pieces from the impact.

Parker let out a loud grunt at the pain as Venom threw him across the room.  Splinters were imbedded in his skin and there were a few cuts, but nothing substantial for someone like him. Peter hit the wall hard and rubbed his head “real…real pissy today aye Venom? WHOA.”  Spiderman just barely dodged a table that Venom had hurled at him.  It was times like this that he really wished his spider sense worked around the massive oaf.  Venom then continued his raiding of the shop, quickly stuffing a few items in a bag and leaving quickly while his mind still had some sanity left.  As he ran out and started to jump, he felt the bag ripped from him by way of webbing.   Venom clung to the wall he had jumped to and his mouth opened wide, filling with teeth as he roared _“PAARKER”_  

Spiderman made a ‘tut tut’ sound at Venom, wagging his finger at him “Hey, if you use my name, maybe I’ll start using yours again, Brock.”  Eddie suddenly filled with dread at the prospect and growled as he crawled up the building and ran, leaving a certain spider very confused.  Peter was more than expecting Venom to jump down at him, and the way he seemed to shrink from being called ‘Brock’ was suspicious.

“Oh. Well ok then. That was anticlimactic. Weird.” Peter cracked his neck and back “This is gunna hurt in the morning.”  He decided that it probably was a good idea to follow Venom and see where he ends up next.   He jumped onto the nearest building and started to climb soon shooting a long string of webbing into the air and onto a building to use as an anchor for swinging.  He kept his eyes fixed on the distant figure on the horizon, keeping far enough behind to not be noticed. 

Peter couldn’t help but feel surprised when he saw the lumbering symbiote crawl into a familiar apartment window.  The same apartment complex that he was at earlier, there was no way it was a different room.  It was the only window that was fully open “What the hell?”  Peter stayed on the roof of the building across the road from the apartment and watched inside, seeing anything he could.  He could barely make out the woman from before; she didn’t look scared at all of the monstrous man that was obscuring her from view. 

Deanna meekly smiled at Venom “Hey, you took awhile to come back.”  He was breathing heavily and grunted _“Sorry.”_ Deanna let out a breath “It’s alright.  Are you ok?”  Venom nodded _“We were going to bring you something, but…”_ He tensed up, wanting to spill his guts out about how much he hated Spiderman for ruining everything, _“We ran into problems.”_

“Oh… Then I guess now’s not a good time to talk to you then.”  She started to walk away to the living room when Venom grabbed her arm lightly _“What did you want to say?”_

Deanna motioned towards the living room, “Uh come to the living room and sit with me please.”  Venom nodded and followed her to the couch, sitting down with her.

“A guy saw you earlier today and he visited me and told me… Things.  Worrying things.”  Venom strained and wheezed _“What things?”_

“That you murdered people.  That you’re a hardened criminal that made the papers.”  Deanna visibly twitched, wondering how he would act “Don’t lie to me, are you a criminal?”

_“We won’t lie. We have done horrible things; some people have died because of us, but they weren’t innocent.  We’re sorry, but we won’t hurt you.  We promise.”_ Venom sounded strikingly sincere, looking down and away from her.  There was silence between them, to let both of them think for a moment.  Deanna placed a kind hand on his shoulder “I’ll…I’ll believe you for now.  Don’t give me a reason not to, ok?”  He moved to hold her hand and look at her. 

Deanna saw no reason to push him away right now, she didn’t know what was true or real, but she didn’t want to deal with it all right now.  She smiled at him and decided to just enjoy his company for now.

On a roof, Peter only saw Venom grab her, making him tense sharply, then he saw that the woman seemed not at all perturbed by it, whatever was said made her smile.  They then both moved out of the room, stopping Peter from seeing any more of their interactions.  Peter rubbed at his chin ‘hmming’ at them.  He’d never seen Venom acting so human.  Had Brock finally gained control?  No, Venom still attacked him like an animal, Brock didn’t have full control.  So who was this random woman?  He needed to find out one way or another.  She said today was her day off; she probably had Sunday off as well.  He’d try following her on Monday to her work; see what she’s up to.  Barging in on her and Venom right now could be an utterly horrible idea, she might get hurt and he didn’t have the proper gear on him to fight off the symbiote right now.  He’d have to make a new sonic emitter for Venom, maybe he’d visit Doc Connors about that.  Then again, he knew now that sound wasn’t the only think that could hurt the symbiote anymore.

He decided to stakeout the building until he saw Venom leave again an hour or so later.  Peter watched as the dark skinned woman pulled the window shut, no worse for wear and with a content look on her face.  How very odd.


	8. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one enjoys itchy sweaters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so incredibly sorry for the delay, I was hopping to have this out by Christmas, but I've had family matters and work to deal with. I'm still working on the story, it's just going slowly. Thank you for all the support, every favorite, follow and review helps me push myself to write. I really appreciate it.

To Deanna’s surprise, Venom didn’t visit again on Sunday.  This was a slight shock, she expected him to be barging in within the morning hours, but not even a bird sat on her windowsill.  There was nothing but a calm breeze rustling the window gently and the light of the sun creating gentle warmth.

The morning consisted of making toast with peach jam, watching old tv shows, and Deanna questioning if she’s been making the right decisions in life.   She wasn’t just questioning her decisions with Venom, but her decisions with her job and career.  She did indeed love engineering and mechanics, but she questioned if the internship would really push her somewhere.  Was coming here even a good idea to begin with?  Hours were passing of her mind wandering into stressful territory about possible roadblocks ahead of her.

Deanna let out a deep sigh and rose from the couch, grabbed her jacket to head out.  Figuring a walk might help ease her mind away from all the worries.   Once outside, she took in a deep breath of the recycled city air and started to walk towards the café.  Even if she wasn’t going to buy coffee, it was a good ending point for a walk. 

There was still a nipping breeze in the air, but the sun peaked through the clouds and warmed Deanna’s back.  She adjusted her jacket and looked around for anything she hadn’t seen before.   There wasn’t much to look at on her walk that was new, but people were an interest in themselves.  A father and daughter were walking around and stopped to look at a bakery shop.  The Father seemed to be in his twenties with warm dark skin and short hair.  The girl was probably no older than eight, with densely braided hair and neon colored sneakers. She pointed at a bright blue cake with magenta frosting, her eyes were wide with delight and she asked her daddy to get it.  He smiled and picked her up to look into the shop and the many other treats “Tell me what you like baby girl, I’ll keep it in mind for your birthday.”  She let out a small squeal of delight and went on about all the items she wanted.  The father looked slightly overwhelmed, but just smiled and chuckled at his wiggling daughter.   

Deanna smiled at them sweetly, enjoying the scene.  They didn’t notice her and she didn’t want to be noticed.  She just was enjoying seeing the small moment of happiness the Father and daughter had together.  Deanna started to walk again with a jubilant smile on her face; she could hear the little girl giggling behind her.  She didn’t even notice that her attention was on the ground as she walked into someone’s back.

Eddie Brock tensed and turned around to Deanna “Oh hey.”  He was smiling when Deanna looked up at him with embarrassment on her face “A-again, I did it again.  I’m sorry I keep literally bumping into you.”  Eddie didn’t seem to mind at all, he shook his head with sarcasm in his voice “God D, I’m starting to think that you’re walking into me on purpose.  Just tryin to cop a feel?”  He leaned in closer.

Without much thought, Deanna pushed his face away with her hand “Ugh, Brock stop that. Shoosh.”  She tried to hide that there was a red hue to her cheeks.  Eddie just chuckled at her and pulled her hand away, wrapping his hand around her wrist.  She tried to push back to keep his face away, but his grip was like a vise and her arm didn’t move.  Deanna grunted and pulled her hand away when he let go, Eddie was smirking. 

“ _SO EDDIE_ how have you been with your journalism career?”  Deanna switched the subject as quickly as he could before Eddie could think of smart comments.

“Oh it’s, uh, good.  Same old shit, mostly boring stories.”

“Right.  So do you work at that one place… what was it, the Daily Bugle?” 

Eddie twitched and his smile wavered, obviously the place struck some kind of cord “No, I used to work there.  That place is horrible; no one should trust anyone that works there.  They’re all just a bunch of backstabbing assholes.”  There was distaste and anger in his voice.

Deanna was staring, his mood had changed so drastically, so quickly “Alright… I guess I won’t ask you about it again then.” 

A ding went off in Eddie’s head that he’d just put a damper on the conversation, he forced a grin and a lighter tone “It’s ok D, no big deal, it’s the past anyway.”  He glanced around, looking for ideas of something to do; he didn’t want to lose an opportunity to talk to her “Uh, say, how about we go somewhere to talk?  I know there’s a bakery around here that I was going to get some snack from anyway, want to go with me?  I’ll treat you.”  There was a twinge of desperation in his eyes.

“You mean the one just around the block?  Sure, I just passed it.”  Deanna jutted her thumb in the direction behind her and then scratched her head with a comical voice “I dunno Eddie, aren’t bake goods bad for your physique?”  She pokes his stomach “You might lose those abs.”

 Eddie twitches and pushes her hand away “Nah, I’m fine with a few hundred treats; I’ll just work it off, no problem.” 

Deanna just smiled, “Sure then, since you’re treating.”  She starts to walk towards the bakery and Eddie follows closely, seeming to tower over her in height. 

It only took them a few minutes to find the bakery.  Walking inside barraged them with wonderful scents of different confections.  Bread, coffee, frosting and chocolate all mixed into a warm aroma that brought on tingling memories.  Deanna took in a deep breath “I’ve never been here before.”

Eddie looked around, glad that this wasn’t the same place he and Venom tried to raid the day before “Yeah, nice place. I’ve only been here once before.”  He tapped his foot on the ground and walked to the small line of people “Uh you like caramel coffee right?”

Deanna blinked and nodded “Yeah, can you buy me that and a bit of lemon bread?” 

“Sure thing. I’m just goin to buy some chocolate for myself.”  Venom clamored in his mind for the wonderful sugary treats.  Eddie soon ordered their little unhealthy meal and sat down at a one of the few tables inside.  He had bought thirty small chocolates and they barely fit in the bag the employee gave him.  He opened it with hungry lust in his eyes and downed the first ten quickly.  Deanna had a mix of surprise and concern.

“I didn’t know you liked chocolate so much, Christ Eddie, how much money is in that bag.” 

After swallowing hard, Eddie looked at her “Uh probably thirty bucks for everything.  It’s fine though.”

“They must pay you good if you don’t care about spending that much money on chocolate.”

Eddie just nods and continues eating, offering Deanna one, which she takes.  It’s a good quality chocolate, though it tastes odd when mixed with the sharp flavor of lemon bread.  She washes it down with coffee and the Eddie pulls out a phone, “Forgot to tell you, I got a new cell.   So now we can actually plan meet ups instead of these random occurrences happenin.” 

“Wonderful!  Though they don’t seem all that random anymore.”  Eddie chuckles nervously as he looks up the number in the phone that he stole.

“Uh right, here’s the number.”  He hands Deanna the phone and she pulls out her own to add his number in “that’s a weird area code.”  Eddie fidgets and quickly stuffs a few more pieces of chocolate in his mouth.  He feels a stirring inside him, it’s easy to tell that Deanna is suspicious and it’s making him and Venom nervous.

“Thanks Eddie, I’ll probably call you sometime this week, and then we can make actual plans for once.”   Eddie nodded with his mouth full “You should also send me your latest article to read next time we meet.”  Brock gulped the chocolate down hard and then coughed “Y-Yeah. I’ll be sure to do that.” 

Eddie fidgeted and took his phone back off the wood table, shoving it back into his pocket “So how’s your _monster_ situation been going?”   He wanted nothing more than to get attention off himself, even if it meant putting attention on Venom.

Deanna now tensed, “Oh. It’s actually better now. I think that thing and I are starting to get along.  We actually talked quite a bit the other night.  He’s kinda nice.  Really clingy though.” Eddie twitched, the word ‘clingy’ echoed in his head.  Deanna continued “I don’t really mind too much though. Uh, it’s hard to explain why.”  Silently Eddie sighed in relief that Venom’s company wasn’t making Deanna uncomfortable.

“That’s good then.  See, the thing just must like ya, no harm done.”  Eddie smirked, feeling relieved and slightly proud that things hadn’t gone horribly wrong. 

“You look full of yourself; you were only right about one thing.” A light chuckled escaped Brock and Deanna sipped her coffee.  She leaned back when she finished it and the lemon bread, Eddie was already done eating his chocolates, acting as if they sustained his being.   There was silence for a few minutes, just them enjoying the time together and the calm day.  It was a wonderful scene for them both, even if they didn’t talk with each other all the time, they still felt the moments they had together were refreshing and important.

Soon Eddie’s gaze dropped onto Deanna “Want me to walk ya home?” She shook her head lightly “It’s alright Brock, I can get home fine. I’m not really all too worried about things that go bump in the night anymore.”  Eddie tried to not look horrendously satisfied “That’s good then.”   She smiled at him as she rose up “It was nice seeing you Eddie, but I think I should head back now.”  Eddie quickly followed her up “Right right, it was good seein you too, Deanna.”  They were close to each other and after a moment of awkward hesitation, they quickly hugged. 

Deanna smiled contently as she moved away from him, “Be good Eddie.”  Her steps felt lighter as she headed home.  Eddie watched her walk out quietly.  Once she was gone, he went to buy a couple dozen more chocolates for himself.

The rest of the day wasn’t anything Deanna could call eventful, but it didn’t matter, the interaction with Eddie made the day feel fulfilled. Though in no way did she attempt to get to sleep early that night, she kept expecting a dark creature to slither into her room for a chat.  It wasn’t until midnight that she gave up her watch to go to sleep.

This led Monday to have a painful start.  Somehow the entire last three days she forgot that she was running out of clean clothes for work.  The jeans from yesterday weren’t too dirty, so could reuse those, but her shirts were all too worn out to wear again. Her mind was on other things that entire weekend, making her easily forget laundry, but now work was here and all she had was the one thing she didn’t want to wear.  An incredibly gaudy, sandy colored, itchy sweater with a large felt cartoonish peach stitched onto the front of it.  Her mother thought it was cute and bought it for her right before she left Georgia.  She couldn’t have told her mother that it wasn’t her taste, it wouldn’t have ended well.  Now the ugly thing was there, watching her with its badly sewn on eyes, like a hideous itchy demon.  She made an audible whine at it.

Deanna stood out like a sore thumb among the other interns, and her sour look that was obviously towards the sweater was gaining her even more attention.  She would adjust it through most of the day and look down at the cartoon peach with contempt.   Billy came up to Deanna with a chuckle that made her shiver with disgust “I didn’t know you liked peaches, I guess it would be a good idea to get you some for Christmas” _Dear god no._ Deanna tried her best to not make too much of a fuss and just shot Billy a glare as she walked away, he continued “Not feeling peachy today?” 

As Deanna strode away from her acquaintance, she spied someone that instantly pulled her mind away from the subject of cartoon peaches “Parker.”    She didn’t sound mad, only surprised that he was talking with her co-workers and taking pictures.  She made her way over to Peter, not hesitating with her question “What are you doing here?”  He faked surprise at seeing her, glancing at her sweater “Oh hey there. You’re…” 

“Deanna. What are you taking pictures of?” 

“My employer wanted pictures of this place, since it’s a good opportunity for a lot of people to get jobs around here.”  He was lying; she could see that his words were a ruse, but why? 

“…Sure.”

“So you work here?  How do you like the job?”

“It’s nice, I’m hoping to go somewhere with it, I’ve always liked engineering.”  She paused “So you work at the Daily Bugle right?  One of my friends says that place is full of back stabbers and liars.  What do you think?”  She sounded incredibly blunt.

“W-what?”  Peter was genuinely confused at both her question and sudden hostility “Who told you that?”

“My friend Eddie.   But can you-“

Peter cut in quickly “Eddie Brock?”

Deanna stopped, hesitant “…Yes.  You know him?”

Peter seemed to tense and his voice became more serious “Yeah, he used to work at the Bugle… He got into a lot of trouble, he’s dangerous.  Don’t you know that about him?”

Deanna frowned “What are you talking about? I’ve known Eddie since we were kids, he’s not the smartest person, but he’s not dangerous.”

He took a moment to glance around before Peter gently pulled Deanna away from the crowd, and he quietly spoke “You really don’t know anything about what’s happened to Eddie in the last couple of years, do you?”

“Well…We got out of touch, so no. Why?”  Deanna felt her heart beat speed up.

“So you have no idea then.  So that’s why…”  He stopped; maybe it was good if she didn’t know.  Eddie must be using her for something, telling her might put her in danger, It’s better to just monitor her from afar.  Deanna’s eyes were wide, ready for confirmation information on what she already believed, but then Peter just shrugged. “Nothing, nothing. I got to go.  See you some other time, Ms. Bryant.”

Deanna watched him leave, exasperated and confused.  She quietly stood and questioned how he learned her last name when she wasn’t wearing a name tag.

 Things fell together in her mind, they’d been pieced together for a long time, but she didn’t want to really assume such drastic things until there was some kind of proof.

Peter made his way through the facility quickly, away from Deanna as he looked for possible evidence that she was helping Venom with some grand scheme somehow.  But so far she was clean and seemed completely oblivious to Venom and Eddie Brock being one with each other.  The whole situation seemed so incredibly strange to Parker, last time he checked Venom was still completely insane.  How was he interacting so civilized with someone?   

It didn’t help Peter’s confusion when Venom had been so incredibly violent towards him lately.  He was good at hiding it, but Peter had multiple large gashes under his clothes that he had hastily cleaned and wrapped.  Venom was trying his best to get Peter out of the way and things were getting worse between them both. 

 


	9. An Irritation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newscasters sure enjoy exaggerating information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Sorry for how long it's taken to update! I got a job, then quit a job in the time period I've been away. Life sure is good at getting in the way of hobbies-

 

             A twisted, knotting feeling in Eddie’s gut started to form as Venom’s irritation became neigh unbearable to him.  Multiple days had passed of him just observing Peter Parker’s stalker like meddling in Deanna’s life.  Parker was taking an assortment of pictures that Deanna wasn’t aware of and snuck around her block every night, making sure Venom couldn’t reach her.  Brock had his own anxieties to deal with, but Venom made it so much worse.  Spiderman was going to ruin everything; _Parker_ was going to ruin everything.  He couldn’t allow this, Eddie had something so great now, he had a friend and a life they were building up again, he couldn’t have that taken away from him like everything else.

                He had seen Parker scurrying about around Deanna’s work, taking pictures of her apartment when she would go out on walks, _he knew_.  Brock felt panic in his chest, tightening its claws around his heart.  If Peter talked to Deanna and told her about Eddie’s past, about what he _is_ , then the last shred left to his old life would be lost.  He couldn’t afford to lose the only decent thing left in his life.

                Eddie’s body shook as he fell to his knees in the abandoned factory he had started to call home.  The fibers of his being were twitching and writhing with pure resentment and rage. His jaw tensed as his hands moved to hold either side of his head, and then suddenly he let out a warped, powerful roar.  As the noise escalated, Venom took hold of Eddie once more, becoming one being of unrefined rancor.   Their body grew and pulsed as the symbiote seemed to explode From Eddie’s flesh and cover him whole in an instant.  With furious speed, he started to punch the ground, creating deep cracks that quickly spread across the concrete floor.  The area around his hands started to cave in, creating a deepening divot of rubble. 

                _“DESTROY PARKER.   KILL WHAT HURTS US. NO MORE MEDDLING.”_   Venom’s body was having trouble keeping itself together from his intense rage, in fact it started to deform.  Sharp, thorny tendrils burst from the symbiote at random intervals as his body became even more massive and grotesquely misshapen.

                 Venom continued his rampage throughout the building, losing more and more of his recognizably human physique as his anger mounted.  Eddie couldn’t stop his emotions; the fear of losing the one person that he had left in his miserable life was infuriating him and Venom. It felt as though his mind was thrown into a blender filed with thick animalistic hatred and broken glass.  It was physically starting to hurt them; the amount of emotion was overloading their system and disrupting it in the most literal sense.   Venom’s already jagged teeth multiplied and jutted out wildly; his body became riddled with textures and veins as his mass grew.  Now a single one of his wrists had become as wide as a doorframe and as thick as a tree.  His slick skin looked as though thick worms were crawling underneath his flesh, creating undulating lumps as his own musculature could not stabilize.  His claws had come to resemble gnarled thorns, and the symbol of a spider on his chest had become a stretched mockery of its former self.

                This was the epitome of a breakdown for them, they hadn’t had one this excruciating in over a year, and it hurt just as bad as they remembered.   It was time to leave, they had to leave, they had to hunt down Parker and finally erase him from their lives.    Though Venom’s form was as huge as a tank now, he was still incredibly agile.  If anything, he might have become more nimble in this state, seeing as his form had become unstable to the point of easily changing to fit any situation.

                With a final roar that seemed to shake the foundation of decaying building, he stared to run.  He picked up speed quickly and broke through the nearby wall to reach freedom.  Once he was in the open courtyard, he burst into the sky with a powerful leap.  His mock webbing helped him quickly maneuver back towards the busy city.  They would find Peter Parker and devour him. They didn’t even care if the entire city watched their fight, Parker would die today, they would make sure of it. 

-

                The day started late for Deanna, it was one of her few days off, and she took the chance to sleep in.  Which wasn’t surprising, being she ended up staying at work far later than she had anticipated the night before.  It couldn’t be helped when she had a nosey reporter that would just so happen to be wandering around her neighborhood every time she walked home.  That Parker kid was truly starting to grind on her nerves; maybe today she’d confront him about his obvious snooping.  She knew he had to have been the reason why neither Venom nor Eddie had shown up in the past few days.  Ever since she spoke to Parker, every sign of Venom visiting had ceased.  There haven’t been any noises in the night, or coffee left for her in the morning.  It was truly a surprise to her that she felt less safe _without_ Venom’s presence.  Even though the reporter seemed to think he was doing good, all he’d managed to do was put Deanna in an uncomfortable position. 

                By the time Deanna rose from her bed, it was already after twelve and inching towards 1pm rather quickly.  With a groan she pulled herself up and wobbled her way towards the living room, then hunkered herself down on the couch.  She felt as though she’d wasted so much time sleeping, to her the day felt like it was already almost over.  With a sigh she reached for the remote to turn on her ancient looking TV.  Deanna had bought the technological relic months ago from a pawnshop. It worked fine enough, even if stations did turn to snow at random intervals.  The colors where odd, as if someone had set a magnet too close to the screen, leaving a rainbow effect in one of the corners, but that was easy enough to ignore.  Deanna barely ever turned the damn thing on anyway; she usually had better things to do, but in this case her oversleeping had drained her.  Dull repetitive TV shows sounded like the perfect thing to waste time on currently.

                The evening news was at least something to watch and not get invested with for awhile, maybe the political debates would rile her up enough for her to actually get up and make a cup of coffee for herself. 

                Nothing of the like came up unfortunately; there was a car accident and a story about a domestic violence case that she barely could sit through.  Right as it started to get to the local debate about the case, a strange Breaking News segment interrupted it.

                It wasn’t at all like the segments in Georgia, this woman looked anxious and frustrated as she spoke, “Breaking News here, I apologize for having to report this disturbing news, but Venom has been spotted in Lower Manhattan. All pedestrians in the area are advised to stay inside until authorities can deal with the situation. Do not approach the fugitive at any point, Venom is incredibly hostile.  As you all know—Wait, we’re getting live footage of the scene from one of our helicopters now—Oh god.”  The woman paused as the footage started rolling.  The copter was obviously a good length away from the scene, but even with the distance Venom still appeared ungodly huge.  Deanna couldn’t believe her eyes, the way the newscaster spoke of Venom with such fear and disgust made her feel nauseous.  She focused on the footage of the monstrous creature known as Venom, she couldn’t believe just how huge he was, and had the fleeting hope that somehow it wasn’t her Venom.  She started to shake as she moved forward to watch the screen closely as the News Caster continued on over the live footage.   Without warning, Venom pulled a rooftop generator cleanly away from a building with his bare hands and launched it into a nearby complex, “We currently don’t know what has caused Venom’s sudden growth and aggression but—“  There’s another pause as the camera quickly turns to a blue and red clad superhero  “-Right on time, Spiderman has entered the scene.” 

                Deanna’s mind was caught up in a tornado, one minute ago she was falling asleep in her seat and now she felt like she just had five cups of coffee.  Her jaw clenched as she watched the footage of the lanky young man go up against her goliath, monster of a friend.  Her foot started to furiously tap against the floor as the fight ensued.

                Venom quickly made a grab for another piece of the rooftop, an air conditioner this time, tossing it at Spiderman and just barely missing him.  While the hero was distracted, the symbiote had enough time to quickly shoot a stream of webbing from his hand to grab him.  Using the momentum already in play along with his own strength, Venom was able to throw Spiderman up and then straight into a neighboring building’s side.  Bricks quickly shattered as the hero was used as a human wrecking ball.  Dust clouded over the opening, obscuring the vigilante from view.  For a moment Deanna thought it was over right then, a normal man wouldn’t have survived that impact, they’d have been shattered bones and flesh paste. 

                The smoke cleared and Venom bounded towards the building, leaping out in Spiderman’s direction.  Suddenly webbing quickly wrapped around the behemoth.  It only made Venom pause for a second to break the webs once he landed, but it was enough time for Spiderman to run and regroup himself on the next building over with what looked like only minor wounds.

                The helicopter followed the incident as it happened, the lanky man still seemed dazed from the throw, almost missing the edge of the building as he swung towards it on a web.  He needed space from the beast, just for a moment, that’s all he needed.  

                Venom was close behind, but far enough away to give Spiderman a couple of seconds to pull out a device he’d been carrying with him.  He was forced to dodge away as Venom’s bulk nearly landed right on top of him.  It appeared like a scene in a mythological tale with a horrifying monstrosity of epic proportions facing off against what looked like a much weaker hero.  Except Deanna was worried for that monster, she cared about its well being far more than she initially expected, and deep down she knew what the connection between it and Eddie was.

                 Every movement between the two made Deanna’s stomach leap to her throat, her hands quivered and she laced her fingers tightly together to try ceasing the movement.  Then she heard it, the first thing the camera man was able to actually pick up on the microphone that wasn’t just the sound of wind, _“WE WILL KILL YOU, SPIDERMAN. NO MORE AGONY.”_ Venom’s voice was ragged and deep, his words were hardly recognizable, but Deanna heard it oh so clearly. 

                Thorny tendrils lashed out at Spiderman and it quickly became a challenge of agility for him as a few came painfully close to his neck.  Some actually made contact and created thin cuts that quickly bled out onto the man’s costume. 

                Venom rushed the young man suddenly, grabbing him and slamming him down on the roof while he was preoccupied.  Spiderman wiggled in the creature’s grip as it’s saliva dripped down and it’s tongue and muscles writhed with life _“NO MORE”_ Venom bellowed, then there was a pause. 

                The pause was deathly silent, and then Deanna heard the faintest of high pitched noises coming from the TV. Suddenly Venom pulled himself up and away from Spiderman, holding his head and howling in agony. His body quickly started to warp and disfigure as shock waves seemed to pass through the massive beast.  He crumpled to the ground, holding his head and squirming as parts of his body started to rip away and fall to the ground before reforming once more with him.  Through his liquid like mass one could see what looked like sound waves passing through Venom’s hide. 

                Spiderman was still on the ground, sitting up now as he held out a device towards Venom, likely the cause of his pain.  Deanna felt sick, seeing Venom in this much pain made her feel ill.  The fact that she was nowhere near him and had no way to help or stop the situation made it even more unpalatable, “V-Venom come on, just run.”  She whispered to herself and her ailing TV.  Hoping was all she could do.

                Suddenly Venom’s arm ripped away from his body to launch towards Spiderman, knocking him back.  The device flew out of Spiderman’s hands and across the roof, consequently interrupting its signal.

                Venom’s had already become heavily damaged from the high frequency sound waves.  He panted and started to create space between him and Spiderman, refusing to leave the fight.  The pieces of Venom’s arm started to liquefy and slither back to him, regrouping with his body, which started to slowly heal as he regained mass.

                The helicopter moved in close, trying to get a better shot of the scene, unfortunately it was close enough to create a gust of wind that finally alerted Venom to its presence.  With a grunt and a roar; Venom launched two lines of webbing at the Copter, snaring it with the durability of steel cables and yanked down.  “SHIT SHIT OH SHIT-” yelled the camera man closest to the microphone.  As the Copter started to fall, the footage was cut off abruptly and the News Caster was left to continue after clearing her throat.  Though the words only registered as noise in Deanna’s head.

                _I Just need air,_ Deanna thought to herself as she rose up off the couch and made her way towards her apartment window, trembling.  She undid the latch and quickly pulled up the window to take in the slightly frigid air.  The cold did little for her tremors, but the sight of the city working smoothly underneath her gave her a strange sort of comfort.  Even with the full knowledge that the fight was many miles away, she still expected to see plumes of smoke in the distance.  Being far away from the scene only relaxed her for a few moments before realizing how useless her current position was.  Venom looked like he was in so much pain, he seemed so desperate.  Why was he so incredibly enraged to begin with, did someone do something to him?  Deanna pondered the subject as she rested her face in her hands, the video’s images kept flashing in her mind.

                One of the most painful questions in Deanna’s head now was if Spiderman was known to kill people.  She’d never paid attention to the news articles on the vigilante, and now she felt a pit growing in her stomach as she wondered if Venom was already dead.  He couldn’t be, she thought, now feeling trapped in her own home.  She couldn’t stop herself from also worrying if her feelings for Venom were justified, the way the News made it sound was that he was some kind of horrible monster they’d all come to fear.  Was her emotions powered by dread, should she be happy about the possibility of Venom’s death?  A resounding ‘No’ echoed through her brain and it made her scowl and gently dig her fingers into the flesh on her face, creating small indent marks. 

                She didn’t know the full story, but she knew Venom hadn’t done anything that placed her in any real danger.  He was a frightening looking figure, but nothing more.  He didn’t deserve death as far Deanna was concerned, and the knowledge of his connection with Eddie Brock assured her that those feelings were valid. 

                Deanna pushed herself away from the window and started to shed off her nightwear, quickly seeking out new clothes.  She needed to do something, to get dressed and ready, just in case.  It was like a safety blanket for her to dress in freshly washed clothes, but it didn’t do much after the fact.   She couldn’t sit still; she had to occupy herself, but she had become far too anxious to keep her mind set on one thing. 

                The veins in her arms ached as she walked out of her apartment.  She was on the verge of either crying or punching through a wall, possibly even both.  A walk would calm her down, let her relax and establish a better perspective.  Or at least she hoped so.

-

                The air outside was far colder than Deanna anticipated; the sweater and jeans she threw on did little against the frosty breeze that swept through her.  In a way she enjoyed the near painful shivers that shot through her body, it kept her mind off of what was happening in the distance.  It’s hard to concentrate on your own problems and fears when the loudest noise that can be heard is your own teeth chattering away in your skull.

                Deanna took the time to visit multiple stores on her walk, some just for window shopping; other’s specifically to stock up on supplies while she was out.  Some meats and frozen meals would keep her going for a few weeks.  She didn’t require much to sustain herself, Deanna had a knack for making things last, but the sudden spending spree was a simple way of giving her things to occupy her time with.

                A short stop for coffee in a bakery and then a moment getting medical supplies at pharmacy made her realize just how many bags she had been hauling back and forth.  There were at least ten filled with various supplies, mostly edibles and required home necessities, but together they were quite a bit of weight.  It wasn’t incredibly difficult for her to lug around these items, but it was indeed starting to get late.  The evening sun warmed the sky with red hues as it attempted to hide from the city.  Deanna let out a long sigh towards the horizon as she reorganized her various bags to better fit her arms, then started back in the direction of her apartment. 

                It occurred to her as night fell that she had wandered out further than usual into the city.  She picked up her pace once the feeling of her groceries pulling at her arms started becoming uncomfortable.  The cold soon became a painfully sharp sting by the time her complex came into view.  She nearly ran to the door, not noticing the shining pieces of glass on the ground nearby.  She fiddled with the lock until the door opened, and then bound up the stairs furiously.  Making hot coco was next on the list of things to do.

                She burst into her apartment and set her bags down quickly, switching the lights on without thinking.  A blustering breeze in the room drew Deanna’s attention towards the window, and then down to the bleeding symbiote covered Eddie, who barely moved his head to look at Deanna.  His features were mostly obscured by Venom as the oil slick alien mass clung to him.  His body was still huge and contorted with inhuman features, but Deanna could still make out who the host was even if no one else could.  She couldn’t move for a moment, utterly aghast at what lay only a few feet away. 

                Venom tries to cover Eddie more, but the symbiote’s body was too disrupted to correctly form anything that didn’t appear as a misshapen blight on the human form.  Eddie attempted to move one of his arms to hoist himself up from the ground, gasping out distorted words as his arm bulged and twisted before giving out and having him fall straight back to the floor, “D-De…Anna… _P-please.”_   His body was an ever changing mix between liquid and solid forms, parts of him appeared organic while others pieces clung to the floor and wall as if they were made of petroleum.  Each part of him seemed to pulse and writhe as Deanna’s eyes stared at the mass that was Eddie and Venom.  One of his eyes was exposed through the symbiote flesh, the whites where covered in spidering black veins that even seemed to stretch over and into his brilliant blue iris.  There was a watery shimmer to his eye as the light hit it.  He couldn’t bear to look at the shaky kneed Deanna any longer and glanced away, even attempting to move again, which didn’t get him far.  He could only twitch and shudder on the ground, his energy was far too low for actual movement.

                _Coming here was a mistake_ , Eddie thought as tears burned his eyes.  He didn’t know where else to go, he was too weak to fight and he wanted to make sure Parker didn’t get Deanna before him.  He thought this was the safest place to be.

                  Venom’s long tongue writhed and lulled from their toothy maw _.  Move away, get away, there’s still a chance to run._ Eddie attempted to move again, causing the shards of glass to pierce his form even deeper.  Blood spurted from his side and hit the floor and wall near him.

                There wasn’t any more hesitation as Deanna ran to Venom’s side and held him still with her hands.  As she plunged her hands down onto their shoulders, Venom’s flesh curled around her fingers gently, sucking them into them for a moment.  Eddie’s body ceased all movement suddenly; he only managed to move his head ever so slightly to look at Deanna as she trembled.   His breathing became heavier and faster as he watched his friend gently hold him down.

                “D-Don’t move, you…You’ll make it worse.”  Deanna paused and placed a hand on her friend’s cheek, avoiding their army of jagged teeth “Eddie…”  She stared down at him with a familiar look of caring and worry that Brock knew all too well.

                There was a shudder and Eddie squirmed.  He had full control at the moment, though Venom’s voice still roared through his mind.  He was uneasy and restless and it translated into Venom deforming their body into further monstrous shapes. 

                Deanna leaned in close to his face and attempted to hold him completely still “Eddie, Eddie please calm down and let me help you.”  Her voice cracked, she couldn’t stop the tremble in her words, but it still seemed to manage to relax the large being. 

                _“Didn’t want you finding out like this._ ” Eddie’s voice distorted further as he moved a clawed hand closer to his friend “ _I’m sorry…I lied so much.”_ His voice rose with anger and sadness.  Deanna tried to take his hand, only able to pull on a single claw move it closer.   Eddie’s fingers wrapped around her hand once it was close enough.  Deanna slowly tried to sweep away the large pieces of glass near Brock with her free hand, “…I figured it would be something strange like this between you and Venom, I just didn’t know it would be this strange.” 

                She started to try figuring out where the blood was coming from, his wounds seemed to be moving along with his undulating body, “Can you change back to being Eddie?  I don’t k-know how to check these wounds like this.” 

                A pained grunt and wheeze came from the creature as he spoke “I-I am.. _Eddie.._ Can’t _. Change._ Further _. It_ _HURTS_.”  He tried, oh god did he try to force Venom to change his body back, but he couldn’t.  They were just too badly damaged to sustain a completely solid form, every second like this it felt as though he was being stabbed by millions of burning needles.  His body throbbed and pulsed for a moment, and then blood and fleshy chunks poured from his opened wounds.  Deanna quickly grabbed him by the arm, “STOP, stop don’t do that if it’s just going to make it worse.  Please Eddie, tell me how I can fix this.”

                His eye glanced back and forth quickly and a few wiry tendrils slowly wrapped around Deanna’s waist “Have to wait… _Can’t speed it up like this.”_   He groans and Deanna tries to pull away some of the symbiote flesh on Eddie’s face.  She only manages to move away enough to show a small portion of Brock’s face, and even then Venom clings to both her and its host. 

                “What h-happened, why did you go after that man?  Why were you so angry?”

                Suddenly venom clung back to Eddie and he roared out _“HE MADE US LIKE THIS. HE RUINED OUR LIVES. HE’S THE REASON WE’RE BONDED TOGETHER, THAT VENOM EXISTS.  HE WAS…HE-h-he was going to tell you about u-us… and the things we’ve done.”_ His body shook and quivered “ _Couldn’t lose you. We_ - **I** care about you, Deanna… Please don’t leave m-me alone.”  There was desperation in his voice mixed with aching sadness.

                Deanna could barely believe what was happening in front of her, but she couldn’t stand seeing her friend in so much physical and emotional pain “Shhh its okay Eddie, we can fix this, you can start over and things will be like they were.  I’ll find a way; I’m not going to leave you.  You’re still my friend.” He seemed to almost smile as he took in a few deep breathes and tried to relax.

                Deanna had so many questions for Eddie, so many emotions she had to work out, but all of it had to be paused, what was happening in front of her right now mattered more than anything else, “We’re really are going to have to have a talk about all this later. With no lies…”  
                “ _You haven’t run from us yet…_ I won’t lie anymore.”  Eddie coughs up a wad of blood and dead symbiote cells suddenly as his body tensed up.   Deanna quickly moved to hold him above the gunk and keep him steady, hooking an arm under Eddie’s chest to do so.  He was incredibly heavy, but she manages to lift his upper half a few inches off the ground.  Brock tried his best to help, but every movement was a struggle for him.  His body quaked as Deanna tried to hold him up and pull him closer to her until his head finally lay on her lap.  She didn’t mind the strange sludge that seemed to be leaking from his mouth onto her thigh, it was easily ignored for him.  With a heavy amount of effort, he wrapped his immense arms around her waist loosely.

                “T-thank you D,’ _thank you…”_ Brock tried his best to hold in his guts and calm down.

                “Please just get better, Eddie.”  Deanna’s voice was almost pleading to him, wishing he would heal while one of her hands gently stroked over the top of his head.  Eddie’s eye dimmed as he seemed to slowly go into a trance, blinking slowly as Deanna caressed him.  His breathing steadied, even if it was quite loud.  His body loosened up as he relaxed.

                Though the situation was currently at worst case scenario status, Deanna and Eddie both seemed to be cautiously enjoying the moment.  Maybe they were both in shock, but for the time being, they were hopeful. 

                The pain Eddie felt was still immense, but focusing on Deanna and her gentle fingers helped him push past the fact that his body could barely hold its self together.  There was a tingle in his brain and heart when he was near her.  He couldn’t help but think about how glad he was to still have her as a friend, when he knew so many other who had left or given up on him.  Her touch sent a shiver through him and she paused to ask “Are you feeling any better?”

                “…I don’t know. But you make me feel better no matter the situation.”  His voice came out clearer than before, though it still sounded gravely and deep.

                Deanna’s face started to flush with a red tint as his words registered and sent a small fluttering feeling to her heart, “O-oh good.”  She continued gently running her fingers around his eyes and down his face, as she contemplated how much those words meant to her.  Deanna wanted to be close to Eddie and help him through this.  She just wanted him to get better, for this all to end and for them to start anew with no more lies.

                As Deanna gazed down at the person she realized was incredibly dear to her heart, a voice suddenly broke the mood into pieces, “WOW Jesus, Brock, I guess the sonic emitter Doc gave me is a bit more powerful than last time, wouldn’t you say?  Almost worried you’d die-” It was then that Peter saw Deanna with pure fury in her eyes. 

                To Peter Parker, it didn’t immediately register that this woman might be helping Eddie, it made more sense that Venom was trying to devour her slowly. 

                In an instant Eddie was trying his best to push himself up and towards Spiderman as Venom tried to reconstruct using his anger.  Distorted, growly words came from his throat as his face became completely covered once more by Venom.  He forced himself up, **_“GET OUT. WE WILL KILL YOU.”_**  

                Deanna quickly moved to wrap her arms around Venom’s neck, pulling him down towards her.  It didn’t take much to move him in this state and his attention quickly darted to her, giving Peter a chance to pull out the emitter. 

                The noise was like acid to Venom as sound waves erupted through his body.  He cried out in agony, loud enough for the whole block to hear as he tried to move away.  The pain was so intense; it was like his body was being torn in all directions.  He wrapped his arms around his midsection and hunched over, blood dripping down his razor sharp teeth as he roared out. 

                There wasn’t much time for Deanna to think, she could only understand that Spiderman was hurting her friend even further and she would make him stop.  Her own movements were faster than she anticipated as she grabbed at the nearby lamp and pitched it at Spiderman hard.  The tingle in his head that alerted him of danger helped him dodge the lamp as it sailed by his head at concussion causing speeds, “Whoa!  Whoa calm-“  He didn’t have time to talk as Deanna grabbed him by the throat with one hand and ripped the emitter from him with the other.  She shoved him away to turn off the device, nearly throwing Peter back out the window.

                Venom quickly went limp on the floor once the noise ceased, his body twitched and pulsed with movement as the pain slowly subsided.  The red and blue suited hero seemed utterly dumbfounded, “What, why did you do that?  Don’t you know what that thing is, what it’s done-“  Deanna was not about to listen to him as her voice burst from her throat, filled with anger “SHUT THE HELL UP PETER. Can’t you see Eddie is fucking hurt?!  You’ve nearly murdered him and then you come into my home to further hurt him?  Right now I don’t give a flying fuck what he’s done, what I do care about is the fact that you’ve literally tortured him with this fucking piece of shit!”  She clenched the device tightly in her hand, her strength causing small cracks to appear on the outer shell.  Her mouth was pulled in a tight frown with her teeth bared, fire seemed to light her eyes as she watched the confused Peter Parker.

                “I…I uh... How did you figure it out…What?”  

                “You have the same voice as Peter Parker and he’s been following me around and driving Venom away for many days now, IT’S NOT THAT HARD TO PUT TOGETHER YOU LANKEY BASTARD.”  Deanna’s anger was getting the best of her and she knew it, this wasn’t the first time she’s become furious on Eddie’s behalf, but it was the first time she was this enraged at a mutated vigilante.  Pete had many good reasons to go after Venom, but none of them could persuade the woman in front of him in the current situation.

                Parker decided he needed to have Ms. Bryant cool off with some webbing, but before he could do anything at her, she dropped the emitter and grabbed him by the arm and placed her free hand on his chest for leverage.  Using her powerful arms, she forcibly threw Parker to the ground face first, making a loud thudding noise as his teeth met the floor.

                “IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HELP HIM, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF MY APARTMENT.”  The violence and anger came as a true shock to Peter; he didn’t know what to make of the situation as he pushed himself up from the ground.  He held his face, feeling some blood start to leak from his mouth and nose.  He watched as Deanna quickly made her way back over to Venom’s side and sat down.  Once she was close enough, Venom quietly moved his hand to Deanna’s and tenderly held it.  His body shook and spasmed quietly as Deanna leaned in close to kiss his forehead and whisper “Please calm down and rest, Peter’s not worth this. I-I don’t want to see you fall apart.”  In this state, his anger wouldn’t be enough to move him even if he tried, but he nodded ever so slightly to reassure her.   

                Peter started to get up “So you’re uh…Together?  You two…?” 

                The veins on Deanna’s neck became visible as she tensed up hard, “Are you going to fucking help or just stand there?!  If you’re going to stand there then just get out, he won’t bother you again ok?”

                “It’s probably best if I just stay over here.  There isn’t much you can do for him other than wait and help him get comfortable I guess.”  There was a grunt from Venom that caused Pete to quickly take a step back, “Uh just feed him, make sure he gets meat in his system, he just sorta heals himself, I think.”  It was then that Peter realized that he’d never really thought about how the symbiote would repair itself in this state, but the fight earlier couldn’t have been helped.  Venom came after him for hours, relentlessly, he had to resort to using the emitter or else he would have had his head on a platter.  Deanna seemed to understand, though she just nodded out of the fear that using her words would end with her yelling curses at the top of her lungs.

                “I guess I’ll come back, some other time when things are better… To ask questions. Nothing else, alright?  Listen, if you can get Venom to not attack me, then I won’t attack him, ok?”  Another nod came from Deanna, though this one looked far more tense and forced.  It was then that Peter took a few more steps back until he reached the windowsill, then he turned to jump up and out of it, quickly creating distance between himself and the building.

                Deanna had her attention set on Eddie; his breathing was haggard and laborious.  The symbiote flesh pulled away from Eddie’s face so he could more easily see his friend as she moved to lay down next to him. 

                “Just rest Eddie.  I’ll be right here, I won’t leave you alone ok, try to get some sleep.”  Brock started to cough up hunks of dead flesh and blood before he attempted to nod warily.  He could barely keep himself conscious any longer, and at her request, he soon started to pass out. 

                His body was still incredibly active even as Eddie’s mind drifted.  Venom’s flesh lazily moved towards Deanna and gently pulled her closer, quietly curling around her arms and hands once she was near.  She didn’t mind the motion at all; in fact she was delighted to see signs of life from her friend.  It helped comfort her as she slowly calmed down, closed her eyes.

                Deanna could only hope that Eddie would still be alive in the morning.  The idea of waking up to him decomposing scared her far worse than any of the events prior.  She started to cling to him and in turn he held her close.  Deanna could only hope she wouldn’t have to let go. 


	10. Ending A Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends tend to come and go in many odd ways.

The day couldn’t have started much worse for the pair.  A loud, fast knocking could be heard coming from Deanna’s front door; it woke her with a frightened start.  The morning sun was only barely filtering through her windows, indicating that it was still quite early, how rude of this person.  For a blissful moment, Deanna’s waking mind was vacant of worry, unable to remember the events the night prior.  She simply felt comfortable and hazy. The smell of blood and decomposition brought memories rushing back in a flash of red. 

                Deanna’s eyes darted around as another set of loud, fast, knocks slammed against her front door, “J-Just…Give me a minute!” Her words came out hoarse and she swallowed hard.  Her eyes over the destruction from the previous night; somehow things seemed _worse_ than she remembered. Maybe it was the shock of the situation that affected her memory, but she didn’t remember _that_ much blood being everywhere and didn’t remember Eddie being _that_ large. His body dwarfed her as if it were a literal elephant in the room, and nearly every piece of furniture she had was at least 25% covered in Eddie’s blood.  Not only that, but the symbiote’s flesh was covering her like a blanket, sticking to her flesh ever so slightly.   Then she noticed something that made everything feel incredibly wrong, and it made her stomach twist painfully.

                Oh god he wasn’t moving at all.  Normally whenever she saw Venom, they moved around constantly, even if it was just small, subtle, movements of their odd skin sliding around like oil rolling over flesh.  There was not a single movement now, Eddie’s eyes were hidden in the flesh and his body seemed limp.  One of his arms hung over her in a hug, though there was no tension to it, no life. 

                Deanna could feel her breathing become haggard; it felt as though her lungs could not fill, as if someone was pushing down on her chest.  She turned, moving out from under the amalgamation known as Venom.  She tried to get a better look, trying to convince herself that everything was fine.

                Pulling away from Eddie ripped away chunks of symbiotic flesh as if it were burnt sugar.  His arm clung to Deanna and ripped away with her.  Suddenly Deanna felt slightly ill, though her mind barely could understand the sight before her, as another loud, impatient, knock startled her.  She nearly yelled from the noise, but instead just gasped out “O-One… M-MhMinute.”  Her eyes fluttered as they welled up and a lump started to form in her throat. 

                She decided that worrying about the person at the door was a top priority.  Even though her mind couldn’t properly understand the situations in front of her, she knew that the person at the door could only make things far worse for her if they looked in on this blood soaked scene. 

                “ _Clothes, I need to change my clothes.”_ Deanna thought to herself, but as far as she was concerned, that would take too long.  A million ideas came at her, but she decided that multiple bathrobes were the best plan that didn’t involve wasting a large amount of time getting dressed.  She had about three robes of varying colors, all of which were adorned with peach decorations.  She quickly threw them all on with shaky hands, ignoring the blood trail she had left in her wake.  

                Her knees ached from her quivering gait, but she continued her way towards the front door of her apartment.  The layers of bathrobes gave her the appearance of someone heavily down trodden with a cold.   This appearance was enhanced by Deanna’s inability to easily form words. 

                She opened the door ever so slightly to a thin, tall, blonde woman who looked incredibly agitated, “W-wha…”  Deanna croaked out “What do you want?”  She recognized the woman as a neighbor, only because she’d seen her walking around the complex every so often.  The woman had the stereotypical appearance of someone who enjoyed gossip, and getting into the business of people she had never spoken to before.

                “Well ma’am, I live a few doors down and I, and a few other tenants, I might add, heard some disturbing noises in the night.  Is everything alr-“ She had no time to finish before Deanna’s ragged voice spoke loudly.

                “I’m j-just SICK. Got… Gotta cold. Everything’s ok.  So-Sorry if you heard me yelling. The medication gives m-me hallucinations.”  She coughs loudly for effect; it was the best excuse she could come up with in only a few moments. 

                The woman gives Deanna a look of disbelief, seeming to have already made up her mind about Deanna before she spoke, “Riiight. Listen, I don’t care what drugs you’re on or how many ‘partners’ you’re bringing her, but dear god, keep it down. Some of us actually have kids and _jobs_ that require us to get rest.”  She smiles in such a way that would normally make Deanna’s blood boil, but on this occasion she simply raised her eyebrows, watched with tired eyes, and said, “Yeah ok, bye.”  Before slamming the door briskly onto the woman’s face.      

                Deanna could hear an exasperated gasp come from the other side of the door, but she couldn’t muster any acknowledgment towards it as she turned away to look at the non-moving lump that was her friend.

                Horror quickly washed over her as she saw that Venom, _Eddie,_ was now a pile of featureless sludge on the floor.  Deanna never screamed when she was scared or upset, but noise did escape her at this moment.  A noise consisting of a wheezing gasp, that lead to the start of a cry as her legs gave out, bringing her to her knees on the floor.  She held her head, gasping for air as tears started to flow.  Deanna watched the lump of sludge slowly deflate and spread out across the floor like melting ice-cream. 

                “O-Ohh GOD…E-Eddie.  God no, no, no, Eddie please no.”  There was no life to this sludge, it was devoid of anything resembling a person, and not a single movement could be seen in the slime.   Deanna felt bile rise in her throat while tears started to blur her vision.  She couldn’t muster the energy to blink them away.

                Noises she’d never made before echoed from deep in her chest.   There were pained knots growing in her stomach, and what felt like her heart.   One hand balled up against her chest while the other held her up from the floor, “E-Eddie please say something...P-please… Do something! Oh god.”

                Deanna’s hands shot to the sides of her head, as memories of her childhood flooded into her mind against her will.  Her eyes clenched tightly shut as she curled over.   She remembered how bright Eddie could be, how he always tried to lighten her mood when she was upset.  She remembered how elated she was to see him again; how it brought her happiness, and feelings she hadn’t experienced in so many years.

                 A particular memory that was incredibly vivid, was at the forefront of her mind.  She remembered wanting to get ice-cream as a young child.  The local candy store was known for closing early, right after the rush of kids coming home from school, wanting to make a profit, but not deal with kids longer than needed.   Deanna usually didn’t have money to get any ice-cream, but this day was different she had a whole $5 in hand and was ready to get that banana split she’d always been told about.  She had told nearly every kid she met about how excited she was to try the candy shop’s specialty split that day.  Looking back, it seemed silly to be so excited about ice-cream, but to little Deanna it was the best possible thing the day could bring her. 

                However the bus she road on was getting old, it was known for stalling every so often, but it was infrequent enough that it hadn’t become enough of a problem to switch out.  No one apparently wanted to fix the bus either, because the entirety of Deanna’s elementary school years involved seeing that same bus every day, with its sliced up seats and stalling engine.

                  As child luck tends to have it, today was one of the occasions the bus had stalled.  It wasn’t too much of a problem really, but it did waste a good ten minutes of important ice-cream time.  Ten minutes added to the lengthy time it took the bus to leave the school, meant that, of course, little Deanna ended up late to the candy store. 

                She saw the doors close from afar and quickly sped towards the store, hoping the owner might be generous and let her in.  This owner wasn’t fond of kids, and everyone knew this, but he made enough money off of their sweet tooth’s to not really need to be nice anyway.  Deanna remembered the owner smiling at her, as he turned the ’OPEN’ sign to ‘CLOSED’ with enough malice in his eyes that Deanna could still recall it after all these years.  Deanna stared at the sign behind the glass for a few good, long seconds, then slumped and held back tears, feeling the pain of disappointment overwhelm her.  She walked away from the small shop and leaned against a wall, trying to gather herself.  She didn’t want people seeing her upset because of _icre-cream_ that would make her look weak and silly, she thought at the time.   She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and let a few sniffles escape.  Silently she told herself never to be this excited for something so small again, and that she didn’t really deserve that banana split.

                Her self depreciating thoughts were interrupted by a small nudge against her shoulder and a familiar, concerned, voice saying “Wow D, you ok?  Are you crying?”  Deanna quickly pulled her hands down and looked in the direction of the voice.  She saw young Eddie Brock, nudging the plastic bowl of a banana split against her shoulder, he repeated “…You ok?”  There was concern on Eddie’s fac that Deanna hadn’t yet seen the boy ever have.  She nodded quickly and hoped he didn’t think she was actually crying over the loss of ice-cream, even if that was the real reason.

                Deanna was half afraid he’d make fun of her, but Eddie just stayed quiet and nudged a spoon towards her.  She took the plastic utensil and looked at her friend, then the split.  It had three flavors of ice-cream, with three types of syrups on top, which she could barely see under the pile of whipped cream.  The bananas were completely hidden in the mess. A classic banana split.  The layers created three small mountains of sweetness; each peak was topped with a single cherry.  Or each would have, except one peak was missing about a spoonful of its sweet contents. 

                “Uh… I know you were saying about how excited you were to get ice-cream today, and I got here and didn’t see you. So I figured I’d wait in line and get the split in case you didn’t get here in time.  Since the owner is such an butt, I didn’t want you to miss getting it.  I uh… _Found_ $5 on the road while I was walking here, I’m lucky I guess, so I figured I’d use it on the split.  Sorry I got hungry and ate some of it, I know you don’t really like vanilla, so I figured you wouldn’t care.”   Eddies words meant so much to Deanna at that moment. It reassured her about their friendship, that he wasn’t just some random kid she spent too much time with.  He had a true sweetness in his words, the kind of honest kindness that true friends give to people they care about. 

                A sniffle escaped Deanna’s dripping nose once more, and she almost felt as though she’d start crying right then, but she held it and a tense smile pulled over her face “T-thanks Eddie.” Her voice cracked, and she knew he stole the money, but she didn’t care.  What he did warmed her heart. and made her day brighter than the ice-cream ever could have.   

                Eddie chuckled and ran a hand through his short blonde hair “Yeah it was nothin,’  I thought you’d like it.”  He grinned broadly, and moved his own spoon towards banana split, taking a spoonful of the vanilla, while Deanna moved her spoon towards the strawberry side. 

                Before Deanna could take a bite off the sweet strawberry mixture, something went wrong.  The ice-cream started to melt suddenly and darken, becoming a deep maroon color in an instant.  It was slow at first, then the substance melted down as if a hot blow dryer was above it.   The mixture became a dark, oily, soon mixing with the plastic bowl as it too began to melt, and pool to the floor. 

                The now terrified, young, Deanna looked up at Eddie, whose face had been dripping down into the bowl this entire time.  His lips and the skin on his bottom jaw were already completely gone; they had already melted down and mixed with the ungodly ice-cream. He appeared older now, no longer a child, though Deanna still appeared as a child within her own memories.

                 Eddie’s face was covered in gashes, caused by shards of glass that stuck out of his skin grotesquely and sporadically.  Tears were already flowing down his face, mixing with the heavy flow of blood from his cuts, seeming to speed up  the melting process as his eyes drooped more, and more, in their own sockets.  The strings holding the vein covered orbs in his head slowly became visible as they hung further out of Eddie’s face.

                 Blackening blood poured from Eddie’s mouth as he spoke _“Good…Bye…”_ His voice was echoed through Deanna’s mind as the rest of Eddie’s face started to cave in like a kicked in pumpkin once his bones melted down.  Eddie’s eyes finally fell from his sockets and popped in mid air with a wet ‘pop’ as the rest of his body slumped down, deflating and pouring its contents down on Deanna’s feet.  His middle split open with a sickening ripping noise, and Eddie’s organs fell from his body cavity, quickly disintegrating and joining the black sludge that was once Deanna’s friend.

                “NO MORE” Deanna spoke out loud to herself as she shook her head, snapping out of the now rotten memory and trying to dismiss it from her mind completely.  It only took a few moments to relive it, but seeing such a fond memory distort so horrendously made her feel sick so deep down she swore her soul was heaving. 

                Deanna covered her eyes and no longer tried to hold back her weeping, her friend was dead and she had been sleeping with his corpse.  She had woken up in the arms of decomposing flesh, never once noticing the life leaving his body in the night.  What if he _had_ said _‘goodbye_?’  Then that meant she missed his last words, that her tired mind just ignored his last breathes.  Not only that, but there was no body to bury, and the remnants of her friend were literally _everywhere._ It was like he had exploded in her house and left no pieces.   These thoughts brought a new flood of tears.  No one even knew Eddie existed any more, no funeral would be held, he was just simply _gone_. 

                “PARKER” Deanna screamed out, it was his fault her friend was gone, everything was his fault. “ _If he never used that emitter a second time, he’d still be here_. “ She thought, digging her own finger nails into her forehead.   She couldn’t stay angry very long though, the sadness made her body weak and her bones started to ache from her constant trembling. 

                This was too much for her, she had never experienced loss like this, she’d never lost a _person_ before.  She had broken bones before and it didn’t hurt to this extreme, it didn’t hurt in an area she couldn’t fix.  This was a foreign pain that seemingly ate away at her insides, making her dry heave.  Her friend was dead and it was her fault. He hid with her because he felt safe, it was her fault. Entirely her fault.

 

 

                Then there was a nudge against Deanna’s shoulder.

                This caused her to pause, suddenly, her weeping stopped.  Her body tensed completely, making her back pop.  She expected this was nothing but her mind playing tricks on her, then there was another nudge against her right shoulder.

                Slowly Deanna opened her eyes and turned to look in the direction of the nudge, with her eyes red and nose sniffling quietly.  

                Eddie was offering Deanna a jar of candied peaches.  His eyebrows were raised and crinkled in concern while his eyes glistened with life and kindness.  He wasn’t covered in blood and only seemed to have a few light bruises spotting his arms and face. 

                Shock filled Deanna and her eyes widened.  Taking no time at all, she hugged Eddie tight and pulled him close.  The movement was fast enough to nearly knock the peach jar from Eddie’s hand.  Her hold on him was incredibly rigid, out of fear that he would just fade away if her grip happened to be too loose.

                Eddie let out an ‘UHF’ noise as Deanna stole the breath from him.  He could feel her wet, hot, tears fall onto his chest as she whimpered out “E-Eddie…”

                “S-Sorry D… I had to go eat. I-I thought you wouldn’t be up this early.  I thought I could sneak out and back in-in time to see you wake up…” 

                “T-The body”  Deanna’s voce crackled out and her strong arms constricted Eddie even tighter, forcing a grunt from him.

                “T-That…I sorta…Ugh…Shed my skin. Venom…UGH please loosen up…”  Deanna quickly loosened her grip and Eddie took in a large breath, continuing “Venom was using you to help give us energy again, while you slept.  That’s kinda why he was being so clingy…And uh, in the morning we crawled out of the dead skin… shell… thing… But it was sorta perched on you and we didn’t want to wake you up, so we just sorta left it there thinking we’d be back in time to explain before you fully woke up.  We need to eat…Eat stuff you didn’t have here.”    Eddie swallows hard “I’m so sorry Deanna.  I-I didn’t know you’d be up.” 

                So many thoughts rung through her mind, but Deanna quieted them all down, reminding herself that she didn’t care, Eddie was alive and that’s what mattered right now.  In different circumstances she would have had a million furious questions for him, but not now.  A laugh caught in her throat, in-between the sobs as she looked up at Eddie with tear filled eyes. 

                Concern was still spread over her friend’s face as she raised a hand to his cheek, a chuckle escaping her “G-God dammit E-Eddie, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re f-fucking alive.”  Eddie couldn’t help but grin at this and try to reciprocate her hug, being far gentler with her than she was with him. 

                Deanna hid her face against him once more and tried to calm down.  Eddie had never seen her cry this much, and though in the back of his mind he was happy she cared so much, it was still hard to see her so distraught.

                 Eddie moved forward ever so slightly to kiss the top of Deanna’s head “Listen, uh, I’ll clean up this mess ok.  Everything will be alright.  How about ya get some sleep in an actual bed and we’ll work out everything when you get up.”   He moved back to offer the jar of peaches again with wider, more sarcastic grin “Figured peaches might help make you feel better, D.”  Deanna barely could chuckle, but she tried to force it out, Eddie could see how utterly weak she was at the moment, and decided to scoop his friend up.

                The movement was fast and smooth as Eddie picked Deanna up from the floor and into his powerful arms.  It gave her a start, but Deanna quickly calmed down as Eddie rose up and moved Deanna to her bedroom and lowered her down onto her bed.    The sheets and pillows felt softer than usual and Deanna squirmed about, getting comfortable.  She finally had time to realize that she still had her bathrobes on like coats and quickly pulled herself out of them. 

                Eddie sat at the edge of the bed and looked down at the ground “…I promise, when you wake up we’ll have a real talk about all this. I’ll explain everything and we’ll have a _real_ conversation.  About Venom, about what happened, about what I’ve done, everything.  I promise.”  There was a genuine tone to Brock’s words that comforted Deanna into a lull.   When Eddie looked over, he saw her nodding, her eyes half lidded and her body relaxed.

                “Just be here when I wake up this time.” Deanna had huskiness in her voice, the type people usually only have when they’ve just woken up.  Eddie just smiled and nodded at his exhausted friend and moved to hold her hand tenderly.

                Deanna’s fingers held tightly onto Brock’s hand until sleep defeated her, and she no longer could keep a grip on him.  Once Eddie could get away, he rose from the bed as quietly as he could, and silently, smoothly, made his way back towards the front room.

                A disgruntled sigh escaped from Eddie as he surveyed the damage, he rubbed his neck at the sight.  He was sure nearly every piece of furniture would be stained, and cleaning up this mess would take a few hours if done normally.  He decided this would be something he would completely leave to Venom, being it was mostly the symbiote’s flesh that had made the mess; surely it could clean it up. 

                Eddie grew and changed quickly, taking up a large amount of space in the room.  The transformation was less violent than usually, mostly due to the fact that Venom wasn’t trying to take a form that resembled a humanoid; it simply became a mass of writhing flesh, as it tried to spread out as quickly as possible, absorbed its own dead flesh to be recycled later.  The mess would still take a good amount of time to clean, but as far as Venom and Eddie were concerned, it was worth the effort.

                After all, Explaining to Deanna that they had killed probably hundreds of people would be much harder to do if the room looked as though it were covered in blood.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Once again, sorry for the delay with posting chapters, my life has been busier than expected with art commissions and I haven't had much time for myself. But hey, who thought Eddie was gunna die this chapter? Huh?
> 
> I also could have probably done more with this chapter, but I got a lot of other shit I need to work on.


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